Unsent
by Galloway
Summary: Part 1 of my Tikku trilogy, "Coming Home". Please see the new Author's Note in Chapter 7!
1. Chapter 1

_"It's better this way..." Yuna said to the Fayth._

* * *

There was no one here. Not surprising, since it was the middle of the night. Yuna and Paine were sleeping in Tromell's home, formerly Chateau Leblanc, as guests of the new Guado leader. Rikku had been there too, until she realized she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, and found herself slipping from her much-too-long, made-for-a-Guado bed, and sneaking out the front door. Her feet just seemed to lead her here.

Rikku didn't know why she kept being drawn to this place. She didn't used to come here at all. Avoided it, in fact, when Yuna was on her Pilgrimage.

_The Farplane._

The dead lived on in our memories, she always told herself. No need to conjure them up with a bunch of pyreflies, when you can talk to them in your heart.

Besides, in the deep desert of Bikanel or Sanubia, when the Al Bhed were outcasts of Yevon, there were no Summoners to send the dead. So none of Rikku's loved ones were on the Farplane back then. No reason to visit this place.

So why now, years later, did she keep coming here, to stand in this vast sacred chamber of eternity?

But she knew why: to find him.

Yet standing before the edge, looking down upon the flowered field where the darkness of Shuyin and the paranoia of Vegnagun had nearly ended the Calm, ended the world, there was no one here. Try as she might to call him to mind, conjure him up, his image would not come.

Troubled and yearning, the Al Bhed girl returned to her foreign bed and a fitful night's sleep.

* * *

From underneath the cascading waterfalls and shadowed from the hazy faux sun, the Fayth watched the high bank that led out from the Farplane to the honeycombed trees of Guadosalam. He spent most of his time deep in his new home's many bucolic planes and layers, each just a thought away. He moved through the dreamy and dreamless moments of uncounted time wrapped in the folds of his many brethren summoners from ancient Zanarkand, and too those whom Yu Yevon had called and that had died before the great defeat and the coming of Sin.

But this one, like no other, sometimes came here too, to watch that ledge high above. He was drawn whenever one of those heroes and heroines who'd freed him and the others from that sleepless dream came to pay their respects, to visit with their own departed loved ones. The burly blitzballer and his crimson-eyed bride; the muscular blue-furred Ronso elder, who so rarely left his sacred mountain; the sublimely beautiful High Summmoner, last of Spira's great, selfless, tragic saviors. And, of course, the desert's pixie-princess. He watched them, listened to them, hoped his silent hopes for their happiness.

For most those hopes had been answered. He'd seen tiny Vidina, held aloft to show the silent form of Chappu. He knew of the safe return of Lian and Ayde, retold to Maester Kelk Ronso. And he'd spoken first hand to Spira's beloved brunette heroine; though she'd searched at length for her blitzballer, the one the Fayth himself had recruited from the dream of Zanarkand, her hopes had led her to a different path: loving that past as a fond memory, but choosing to live for the future.

There was only one the Fayth now worried over. So lovely and so sweet, she was like a ball of life incarnate. It pained him greatly to witness her soft, almost unrealized torment. She was still so young, and perhaps it was that youth and her endless vitality that spurred her old friends to realize their own dreams.

While leaving her still dreaming.

He wished there was something he could do for her. He thought on her journeys with the Summoner. What had made her happy then?

The company of friends had. Protecting her cousin had. But was that all?

After the defeat of Sin, her friends had been sent or scattered. She'd been driven to help Yuna find her dream, rather than live for Spira alone and not herself.

Twice she'd lived to help Yuna find her dream, actually: the dream of defeating Sin, and the dream of finding him. The first had come true, while the second... well, Yuna had let herself awaken from that.

But, there was something there, he just had to think...

The Fayth flicked through images in his mind, of Rikku's journey alongside the High Summoner. Coming to alongside the Moonflow. Viewing a magical sphere of ancient Zanarkand. Shock at Yuna's engagement. The fury of the fearsome Thunder Plains. Riding to Yuna's rescue on the back of a snowmobile. Huddling in the cold, unknowingly atop Sin. Trekking over the dunes on Bikanel. That horrible first sight of Home under siege. The look on his face when she spilled the truth of a Summoner's fate. A sham wedding, riding to the rescue down great and shaking steel cables. Swimming and swimming through the underbelly of Bevelle. Diving to search for an airship. Macalania's beautiful pools. The Calm Lands great expanses. The snowy trails of Gagazet, Yevon on their tails. Then at the summit, the unsent Seymour. An almost endless cluster of Fayth. Losing him into some strange dream. Descending into Zanarkand. He'd promised to show her Zanarkand, on the deck in the ocean. Cold and huddling in the temple at Baaj. Fighting Yunalesca, fighting Sin, fighting Jecht, hating, fighting Yu Yevon, fading...

And suddenly it occurred to him how he was seeing the Al Bhed: through the eyes of the one he'd sent to this world.

He retraced the memories anew. There was something in the smiles, in the easy chatting, the laughter, the lingering glances...

The Fayth blinked. A moment, not far from that balcony, high above. Him and her alone, after Yuna had gone off to give Seymour her answer. She teased him about taking a chance with Yuna, but he teased her right back. "I'd rather have you, Rikku," he said. But... was it a tease after all? The Fayth closed his eyes, picturing it through each of theirs.

He'd followed her, again and again, talking about marriage, about loss, about children. She clung tightly to him on the snowmobile, he could feel her arms around him, she could feel him beneath her hands, her soft scent cutting through the chill wind, his hard muscled back, beneath her pressed cheek...

Guadosalam. "I'd rather have you, Rikku," he said.

She'd been surprised. Overwhelmed. The Fayth could feel her heart flutter. She jumped down through the branches to the floor beneath him, casting a smile back upwards.

"Syopa cusatyo!" she'd called.

The Fayth opened his eyes. _Maybe someday..._ he thought.

Someday soon.


	2. Chapter 2

"How do I look?"

"How do you always look?" Paine mused. "Don't worry, Yuna, he'll be stunned."

"Yeah, Paine," Rikku countered, "but he'll still act cool as a Guado."

Standing before the other two on the upper deck of the Celsius' cabin, Yuna looked down at herself, running her hands gently over the light fabric of the powder blue sundress she'd bought in Luca. "You really think so?"

"That he'll be stunned, or that he'll be formal?" the warrior woman asked.

The High Summoner cocked her head. "Either."

Her two best friends met eyes. "Both," they said in unison.

"Oh, I don't know," Yuna fidgeted with her hair. "The Praetor isn't so much formal as he is gracious."

The Al Bhed thief nudged the warrior with an elbow. "Sounds like someone's got a crush!" She did a little half-dance step. "But since this is a date, you might want to call him Baralai."

"It's not a date!" Yuna flushed. "It's a meeting."

"With dinner?" Paine cocked an eyebrow.

Yuna shyly nodded.

"It's a date," Rikku concluded.

The brunette moved past them and down the stairs. "It's a meeting on the future direction of New Yevon."

As Rikku and Paine shrugged and started to follow, the intercom crackled to life, bearing Buddy's voice. "We've arrived at Bevelle for your date with Praetor Baralai, Yuna."

Behind her, the other girls laughed. Over the speaker came Brother's bellow. "It's a meeting!"

Shinra's chair creaked. "I think it's a date, but I'm just a kid."

"I'm not _hearing_ you!" Brother cried, before the line went dead.

* * *

The bay door slid open to the sparkling skyline of Bevelle. The ship had docked to an upper level of the great temple, and a scramble of priests worked to link a gangway from the ship's berth to the Celsius as Yuna headed across the crimson-painted decking. Paine and Rikku were following over the High Summoner's objections — the warrior with a perfunctory grunt about protection; the Al Bhed with a shameless chirp about just going to tease her cousin mercilessly. But as the first two moved ahead, Rikku slowed when she saw her father already out on the deck, his shoulders slumped, his eyes on the horizon. The Celsius had been in Guadosalam to pick him up from a meeting with Tromell. Rikku had been surprised that Cid was even there, given the Al Bhed's history with the Guado, and her father hadn't spoken about the meeting since he came aboard. Rikku couldn't imagine it had gone well. 

Against her nature, the little thief said nothing as she sidled up to the strongly built Al Bhed leader. Instead she followed his absent gaze and simply bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her back in an unconscious imitation of her older cousin.

"Always did admire the architecture of Bevelle," Cid said. At the upward dance of her eyebrows he glanced at her and added, in his usual gruff tone, "Hated the people, liked the buildings."

Rikku giggled slightly in response, but still said nothing.

"That meeting was a waste of time," he sighed.

When he didn't say any more, Rikku couldn't help herself.

"So... what exactly were you meeting about?"

He shook his head. "Trying to get the Guado's help in rebuilding Home."

Rikku almost gasped. She looked over to her other friends, who had reached the walkway and were heading down. Poopy, she thought, that was gonna be some quality teasing, too. She looked back at her father, where he still stared out at the city, and gave her own little sigh. This was gonna be a long one.

"Pops..." she started, and he looked over and down at her, "what in all of Spira would make you ask the _Guado_ for help rebuilding Home? They destroyed it!"

"Which is exactly why I asked," he growled. "They owe us!" He folded his arms across his chest. "I figured with all this lovey-dovey talk of cooperation between the Youth League, New Yevon, and the Machine Faction, that maybe some might rub off on those lanky Guado. But all Tromell did was wring his big hands and whine." Cid shook his head. "Guess I can't blame the bastard, the way things turned out for them, what with the Ronso wanting to wipe them off Spira and all."

Rikku nodded her head. "So, what did you think they could do for you?"

"How 'bout a little respect for starters? Tromell's traipsing off to Gagazet to ask forgiveness from the Ronso, but he's never showed up at my door, not that I have one. Well the Ronso still have their mountain, and the Guado still have their trees. And what do the Al Bhed have left?"

"Well, the rest of Spira doesn't hate us anymore."

"That's a nice blanket I can pull over my feet at night."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's something."

"Sure," Cid scoffed. "Everybody's just accepting enough of the Al Bhed that they can scatter themselves around Spira."

"But maybe that's a good thing, Pops..." she said a bit tentatively, "maybe we don't need to rebuild Home."

He turned to her, hands on his hips. "Of course we need to rebuild Home! The Al Bhed need an identity. Some place to call their own."

Rikku half-nodded, thinking.

"Besides," he said, "how are you gonna lead the Al Bhed if they're not all in one place? That'd be like tryin' to herd a bunch of cats."

The little thief's jaw dropped open and she stared at her father. "W-what d'you say, Pops?"

"I said it'd be like herding—"

"No, I heard that part. I meant the 'Rikku leading the Al Bhed' part."

He grinned to himself, looking into her wide-eyed face. "Well I'm not dead yet, so you've got a while, but they will need a leader after I'm too old to do it."

"But—but— uhm, _me_?"

Cid raised his hands. "Of course, you. Who else is gonna lead us?"

She put her hands to the sides of her face and shook her head. "Uhm, Rin? Nhadala? Maybe Brother?"

"Pfft!" he waved off the thought. "When I'm too old, Rin and Nhadala will be too old too. And I'm sorry, sweetheart, I love your brother, but... I'd sooner turn us all over to that one-eyed womanizer Gippal than your brother."

"Hey, Gippal's my friend!" she answered indignantly.

"And as long as you don't let him near you, that's fine with me."

Rikku shook her head again and walked away a little. She looked to the front of the deck, the great silver gull mounted there. It seemed so free, but at the same time, it was trapped there with the ship.

"But Pops, I'm barely eighteen you know!"

"Eighteen, and you've saved the world twice. I think you qualify for the job."

"_Yuna_ saved the world twice!"

"And Yuna's probably gonna be the head of New Yevon, if you ask me." Cid closed the distance between himself and his daughter. "But you, Rikku, are the only person who was there with Yuna both times, and don't tell me you weren't part of the heavy lifting. I know you better than that."

"Pops—"

He put a hand on each of her shoulders and made her face him. "Rikku, listen to your old man for once. You're the best thing to happen to the Al Bhed in a long time. And I ain't asking you to start up tomorrow. I'll be around for a while. But just think about what it would be like for the Al Bhed to have a Home again. We may all be part of Spira again since the Calm, but I think we've lost who we are a little bit."

"Well, you're kinda right, but I'm a little pooped out with thinking big thoughts about the world for now," she sighed.

"Hey, I'm sorry kid. I didn't mean to dump all this on you." He looked out at the horizon again. "Say, you've been to Bevelle more than I have. What d'ya say you show your old man the sights, huh?" Cid crooked out his elbow and, smiling up at him, Rikku took his arm.

"Tour guide Rikku, at your service," she said cheerfully, and they started off towards the gangway and down into the metropolis of Bevelle.

* * *

They found Paine in a café the Gullwings liked not far from the great temple. She waved them over as they entered. 

"So where have you two been?" the warrior asked as Cid and Rikku pulled up chairs to Paine's table near the back wall of the busy little shop.

"Been showin' Pops all the tourist traps," Rikku giggled. "And he's been doing his best Maechen imitation, telling me how this was or that was 'way back when'."

"Come on now," her father retorted, "you're making me feel old."

She frowned at him. "I didn't say you _were_ old, I said you were _acting_ old."

"Well that makes me feel _much_ better," he answered, picking up a menu from the table.

"So what are you doing here?" the little Al Bhed asked her friend.

Paine held up her cup of kirman coffee in response.

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Besides that. Where's Yunie?"

"Still on her date, I suppose. I wasn't actually going to go _with_ them, you know."

"I know," Rikku shrugged. "Was she nervous? Did you tease her enough for the both of us?"

"I did my share," Paine took a sip.

"Which means you hardly said anything," the thief shook her head. "I'll just have to make up for it later."

Paine grinned wryly. "I'm sure you will," she said. Turning to Cid, she pointed to a spot on his menu. "The Sweet Flan is good."

He furrowed his brow. "How're the Pahsana Cakes?"

"Usually too dry."

"Figures." He called over a waitress and turned to talk with her as Paine leaned in towards Rikku.

"I can't believe you're actually getting along with your father," she whispered.

The blonde grinned. "Happens sometimes," she whispered back. "Usually when he's not being so bossy."

Paine touched the thief's hand. "I like it."

"Don't tell Brother, he'll think I'm betraying him," she giggled.

"What's all this, girl talk?" Cid gruffed, interrupting the girls' private summit.

Paine fixed him with her crimson eyes. "Nothing, Pops."

The thief laughed out loud at the sudden stricken look on her father's face.

"Ha, ha, ha..." the rugged leader cuffed his daughter lightly on the back of her head. "Talk about making me feel old."

Paine raised an eyebrow. "Is that a comment on _my_ age?" she countered, making Rikku laugh louder.

"Sorry, I was fooled by your gray hair," Cid replied.

"And you're ageless because you're bald?" the warrior returned.

Her father turned to Rikku. "How do you travel with her?"

"I stay out of her way," she answered, at last raising a smile from Paine.

The waitress returned to their booth with a small tray of goods. "One Sweet Flan," she slipped a dish before Cid, then put a bowl in front of Rikku, "and a sliced pitaya with acacia honey."

The little Al Bhed looked at the bowl, and when she raised her eyes back to her father they were shimmering with tears. "You remembered," was all she could say.

Cid smiled. "You think I'm gonna forget my little girl's favorite dessert? Of course not!" He turned to Paine. "Her mother used to make that when she was little. I'm surprised they had fresh pitaya here, but I guess you can get anything in the big city."

They ate in silence for a while, Cid occasionally grunting his approval of the Sweet Flan and Paine peppering Rikku with concerned looks that the blonde didn't return. Finally she turned to the Al Bhed leader.

"What do you think of Bevelle," she asked. "From a tourist's perspective," she added hastily.

He snorted. "Well, I was mostly looking at it from an engineer's perspective. There's an awful lot of machina here for Yevon considering them forbidden and all."

"Which do you mean?"

"Well, there's a pretty good plumbing and sewer system here that aren't being run by magic."

Paine shrugged. "The Temples were good at ignoring their own rules."

"That's for sure," Rikku said absently.

Paine frowned again, thinking. "Well, if he wants to see some machina, Rikku, we should show him the Gaol underneath Bevelle."

Rikku sat up straighter. "Hey, that's a good idea! You should _see_ some of the stuff down beneath the Temple, Pops," she told her father. Then she turned back to Paine. "Think they'll still let us down there?"

"Of course they will; we saved the world, remember?" Paine smiled.

Then her grin faded as she saw her words didn't have the reaction she expected; instead of her usual infectious beaming, Rikku instead bit her lip and looked worriedly at her father, who was starting to sport a smirk of his own.

* * *

Cid was not thrilled by either leaping down into the hole in the Fayth's chamber or sliding down the great chain into the underground, but he did marvel at the naked mechanical power of the monstrous transport apparatus in the Gaol. The fact that it had been in operation for over a thousand years merely enhanced his fascination. 

"Seems like overkill just to carry people to and from those cells up there, but great mother of machina it's like a work of art!" he exclaimed.

Rikku cocked her head. "Yeah, when you think about it, just how many prisoners were they moving at once?"

"This was Bevelle before Yevon," Paine answered, "they were out to conquer the world. I bet these cells were full all the time."

The Al Bhed leader snorted. "Probably even more packed _after_ they created the Yevon religion. Damned zealots."

"Or hypocrites," Paine shrugged.

"Either or both. Same result."

Rikku walked to the edge of the platform, trying to shake off the mood. She could see her father's point, and Paine's, but the cynicism weighed on her. As Yunie would say, it was such a sad way to look at things. Rikku couldn't think that way. She longed for cheeriness, for the positive... it was her own way of dealing with the sadness she'd been dealt in life. She loved her father, and Paine, but she needed someone like Yunie around to keep her from going crazy sometimes. She needed...

For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed with a longing for—

"I wonder which cell Shuyin was in," Paine spoke from beside her, looking up at the rows of empty chambers.

Rikku frowned at her. "Do we have to bring him up?"

"Still gives you the chills?" the warrior met her eyes with sympathy.

"Gives me nightmares," she replied, looking away again, trying to stare at nothing. She could hear her father behind, mumbling about gears and lubrication and winch mechanisms. She idly wondered if he was taking notes.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Paine shake her head. "Hard to believe this Tidus that you and Yuna talk about might have been based on him."

Rikku's heart clenched. She took a breath, trying to keep her voice steady. "I— I don't think he is."

"But Maechen said—"

"I know what Maechen said," Rikku cut her off, a little too harshly. "I mean, I don't know how the Dream Zanarkand or whatever it was worked, but I can't believe Tidus and Shuyin were the same. Tidus would never have done what Shuyin did."

Paine cocked her head. "Even if the woman he loved was killed in front of him? If someone you loved died in front of you, how would it affect you?"

Rikku couldn't speak. She opened her mouth, but no words would come.

"Is there more of this stuff down here?" her father unknowingly came to her rescue, walking up to join the pair.

The little thief took a breath and turned. "Yeah, there's more of those floating cart thingies around the corner here, and then the chamber where Vegnagun was."

"Well let's see it!" Cid gestured them forwards. Rikku led the way and he followed.

Paine brought up the rear, the beginnings of a knowing smile creeping onto her lips.

* * *

The glow of a myriad pyreflies greeted the trio as they walked the narrow platform into Vegnagun's enormous former home. 

"Great Yevon's ghost!" the Al Bhed leader exclaimed, head arching back to take in the view. "How did they construct something this big underground?"

"You should have seen what was _in_ it, Pops," Rikku answered. "Except for it being this huge evil thing and all, it was almost a shame to dismantle it."

Paine chuckled. "Spoken like an Al Bhed."

The other two turned blank stares on her. "Huh?" they answered in unison, and Paine shook her head.

Cid moved forward towards the edge of the platform. "So what's with all the pyreflies?"

His daughter came up behind him, peering over into the depths. "This hole connects to the Farplane."

"How do you know?" he asked.

Paine moved up beside them. "We jumped in."

The Al Bhed leader pulled back. "Down there? Are you crazy?"

Rikku turned to him. "All goes along with the heavy lifting."

He frowned at her. "Har, har."

"You asked."

He started back towards the chamber's entrance. "And I'd rather not have known."

Rikku suddenly had the sensation of being watched. By a lot of eyes. It took her a second to place the feeling, and then she dove to knock her father out of the way as a marlboro dropped from the shadowed ceiling of the dome. She yanked her blades from each side of her belt and pivoted to face the beast, Paine at her side.

"What is it about this place and these ugly critters?" she asked to her companion. "How the heck do they hide?"

"What is it about you knocking your old man around?" Cid asked from behind her. "I'm not feeble yet, you know."

"Sorry, Pop, but these things can get bad if you don't have—" she started, then shock hit her. "Oh, crap, I forgot my ribbon!"

And the marlboro hit them all with the fetid stench of its bad breath.

Rikku felt immediate nausea and dizziness, and her knees buckled beneath her. Her backside smacked the platform and shook her right to her teeth. Her eyes closed with fatigue, and a pain spread through her skull as if it had been hit from behind. The cries of the great beast became muffled and distant. She thought she heard someone call her name. Moving like molasses, she made her way back upright, aching head hanging from her bent shoulders.

"Ooh, boy," Rikku swayed on her feet. "That's some powerful stuff."

"Quite noxious, isn't it?" came an unfamiliar voice.

Rikku's head snapped up abruptly, and she turned. There was a small boy standing in front of her, at the end of the platform before the great hole. He wore a funny looking helmet that shadowed his eyes. "Who are you?" she yelped.

"I'm a Fayth," was his response.

Rikku blinked. She realized that other than his voice and the soft swishing of the pyreflies, there was silence in the vast chamber. She whirled back toward the door. Cid and Paine were gone, as was the marlboro. She felt suddenly weak, her hands clammy. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the boy. "Am I dead?"

He smiled. "No. Just dreaming."

"So this isn't real."

"I think you already know — dreams can be very real."

The Al Bhed girl turned back to face him. "Yeah, but is _this_ a real dream or just a 'knocked out by a marlboro' dream?"

His lips twitched. "You'll have to decide that for yourself."

She rolled her eyes. "Great." She waved her arms at him. "Why would I think a Fayth in my dream _could_ be real?"

In answer he simply gestured with his head to the great pit behind him.

"Oh," Rikku said. "Right." She walked to the platform's edge herself and peered down. "Is life okay over on that side? When we beat Sin, we sent you to the Farplane, right? And it was pretty spooky when I was there... I don't think I'd want to go back anytime soon."

The Fayth watched her with his shadowed eyes. Always concerned for others, she was. "You found it unpleasant because you weren't meant to be there. And Shuyin and Vegnagun had invaded its peace with apocalyptic intent, imposing their pain on the substance of the netherworld. Now, free of that influence, it is, as before, a place of eternal serenity for the departed."

"The departed..." she repeated.

"The sent."

Rikku bit her lip. The Fayth half-smiled, but it was gone by the time she turned back to face him.

"So if I'm not dead, why are you here, talking with me?" she cocked her head.

He bowed from the waist slightly. "Like Lady Yuna, you have also saved us twice. The Fayth owe you as well."

"Back to the 'saving the world' thing," Rikku sighed. "Maybe this _is_ just a dream."

It was his turn to cock his head. "Lady Yuna didn't have this much trouble with me."

"Was she asleep when you came to her?"

"No."

"You see my problem."

"Indeed."

Rikku stepped forward to his side, facing the chamber door. "Is my friend okay? Is Pops?"

For a moment she could see a shadowy group of figures nearer the chamber entrance: the forms of Paine and Cid, and facing them the ugly writhing form of the marlboro. They faded as quickly as they appeared.

The Fayth looked up at her. "Perhaps you should think about yourself for once."

The Al Bhed sighed. "Uhm, what did Yunie ask for?"

"She asked for nothing. We made an offer to her."

Rikku turned now to look down at him. "...and what did you offer?"

"The chance to see him again."

Rikku's eyes grew very wide. "Did it work? Did she get to see him?"

The Fayth shook his head. "Lady Yuna chose not to. She thought it would be better that way."

Rikku's heart began to pound. She suddenly found it difficult to breathe. She couldn't believe it... would Yunie really do that? After all their searching, would she turn down the chance to be with Tidus?

If she hadn't, would she be on a date with Baralai? But she didn't call it a date!

Still, Yunie had changed since they defeated Vegnagun. She really _did_ seem to be looking more to the future and not the past.

Yet... arghhhhhh! She couldn't think straight! Marlboro toxin, that's what this was. There wasn't a Fayth here, she was just delusional.

She looked at him. Then she poked him with a finger. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Did that prove something?"

"Hush!" she chided. "I'm thinking! You want me to ask for something, right?"

He raised his hands. "The Fayth would like you to be happy."

She waved her own hands at the space where she'd seen the shadows. "My Pop not bugging me would make me happy."

"Of course," the Fayth smirked, "our powers are not unlimited."

Her voice was tinged with exasperation. "Then why are you asking me? Why don't you just offer me something?"

His own tone was soothing. "It was simple with Lady Yuna. We knew what she had been searching for. Her heart was clear, if undecided."

"But not me, huh?"

Again he cocked his head. "Do _you_ know for what you are searching?"

Rikku clutched her hands to her temples. "'What am I searching for?' 'Will I lead the Al Bhed?' Geez, what is it with all the big questions?!!"

"Do you know the answers?" the Fayth shrugged.

"I was helping Yuna search!" she insisted. "I wasn't searching for anything!"

"Weren't you?"

Rikku sighed, and sat down on the platform, dangling her legs over the edge. "Couldn't I have just been having fun?"

"If only you could see your heart," he touched her shoulder. She hung her head.

Then, close to the chamber door, there was a sound like a rush of wind. They both turned their heads as the air was suddenly overflowing with pyreflies. "One less marlboro," Rikku said, turning back to eye the abyss.

The Fayth continued to watch the pyreflies, twisting randomly in the air. He stepped towards them, closing his eyes. The pyreflies started to twist and shift.

"Well this has been quite a day," Rikku said, gazing down towards the Farplane out of sight below. "Yunie's on her first date in... well, since we destroyed Sin, I find out that not only does my father _not_ think I'm just a brat but that he wants me to lead the Al Bhed, and here I am, unconscious, having a first hand conversation with the Fayth." She felt hands touch her shoulders again, this time one on each. "That's just about all the excitement I can handle."

"That _does_ sound like a lot," came a familiar voice from just behind her. "Guess this is just bad timing for me, then."

Rikku nearly jumped out of her skin as her brain processed what her ears were hearing. "Tidus!" she yelped, and bounded to her feet so fast that as she spun to face him she lost her balance. Just before she would have plunged over the edge of the platform his hands reached out to grab hold of hers, and he pulled her back. She ended up against his chest, within the soft embrace of his arms.

"Now that's a better greeting," he said.

For a long moment Rikku didn't answer, just enjoyed the feeling of him, eyes closed, cheek against his skin. "How did you get here?" she murmured at last.

"It's _your_ dream," Tidus answered.

Rikku opened her eyes, remembering. Her heart sunk to her feet. "That's right, this _is_ just a dream," she said. She pulled away from Tidus and turned her back on him. She eyed the Fayth sidelong. "And this is cruel."

"What's wrong with dreams?" Tidus said. "I'm kinda fond of them myself."

Rikku was instantly contrite. "I didn't mean—" she turned back towards his puzzled face, "I'm glad to see you!"

He grinned. "I got that from the hug."

"It's just... when I wake up..."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I got the same deal from him," he crooked a thumb at the Fayth.

The little thief smiled sadly. "Oh, Tidus, I have so much to tell you!"

He touched her hand. "I'd love to hear it."

"But there's no time! I have so much going on all of a sudden, and it was so easy to talk to you about stuff..."

"So tell me."

Rikku stomped her feet and turned to the Fayth. "Why did you bring him here?"

"It's _your_ dream," Tidus said again. Something niggled the back of Rikku's mind, but she couldn't quite capture it.

"Princess of the Al Bhed," the Fayth said, "what would you ask of us?"

Rikku's hands clutched her head and she closed her eyes.

Tidus poked her playfully. "Wanna scream?"

She peaked at him with one eye. "Yeah. A lot."

He took hold of one end of her long scarf, running his thumb over the material. "At least tell me _one_ thing that's on your mind."

She blurted out the first one that came to her. "I had pitaya with acacia honey today for the first time in forever!"

Tidus blinked at her. Then they both burst out laughing. "Well that _does_ seem pretty monumental," he captured her hands in his.

"Hey," she pouted at him, "it was pretty special to _me_."

"Then I'll have to remember it," he responded solemnly, but with a twinkle in his eye.

The Fayth looked up at her from beside the pair. "Perhaps you need to reexamine your memories before you answer us."

Rikku rolled her eyes at Tidus. "Great. 'Cause I love spending time in personal reflection."

The blitzballer shrugged at the Fayth. "She _is_ more of an 'action girl'."

He nodded his head, then focused his shadowed eyes on Rikku again. "You should visit the place of memories."

She sighed and looked at her feet. "So I'll be seeing you again, then, huh? Will I have to get knocked out again first?"

The Fayth simply looked at her.

"So how soon will I see you?" she asked then.

"That is up to you," he answered, backing up, and Rikku realized he now appeared transparent, as if he were fading away.

She found herself very tired, suddenly. Her legs grew weak, and she swayed on her feet. Tidus put his arms around her instantly, and as she couldn't stand he helped her to the floor gently.

"Don't forget," the Fayth said, moving farther away and fading further. "The place where memories are made..."

"Shh..." Tidus said, "it's okay," he cradled her head. "Rikku?" he asked, "are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"Tidus..." she whispered, and closed her eyes.

"Rikku, can you hear me?" came a gentle voice.

"I'm okay, Tidus," she said, and opened her eyes.

"Thank goodness," Baralai said, cradling her on the floor. "You gave us quite the scare."

Rikku shook her head gently and looked around her. Paine and Cid were there again, a few steps away, along with Yunie. A half dozen New Yevon guards milled in the distance, at the edge of the great chamber.

"Baralai?" Rikku blinked up at him.

"Hey there," he smiled. "If I'd known you guys were coming down here, I'd have sent an escort."

"Well," she frowned, "we can handle ourselves, you know! I just got caught off guard, is all."

His lips twitched. "That I can see."

She sat up, and returned a quick smile from Yuna before the Summoner turned back to talk with Rikku's father. "Sorry about messing up your dat— er, meeting."

Baralai blushed visibly. "Was it that obvious?" he kept his voice low.

Rikku looked him over. He was dressed in tailored clothes that couldn't quite be considered casual, but were about as close as she'd seen him wearing. "Only to someone with eyes," she giggled. She leaned in conspiratorially and directed his gaze to Yuna and her own attire. "But don't worry, she likes you too."

He dropped his eyes. "Hope so." Then he glanced at her up through his eyebrows. "Who's Tidus?"

It was Rikku's turn to blush. "Someone that you shouldn't mention I mentioned."

A look of recognition crept over him, and he seemed a bit troubled, but then he visibly changed gears and spoke to her sotto voce. "Then it's our secret," he winked.

Rikku was amazed, seeing his face transform as it had. Not for the first time she realized how deep the Praetor's thoughts ran. Not at all like herself... the thief knew she was always right there on the surface with her feelings and actions; it was the very thing that irritated Paine the most about her. But Baralai... well, he was just like Yunie in that respect. She was more sure than ever he and her cousin should be together, that they would be good for each other. She smiled to herself, then proffered a hand to him.

"I never said it, and you never heard it," she told him. "Now if you'll give me a hand up, we'll get out of your hair, and I don't expect to see Yunie until well after curfew, mister!"

He laughed and helped her up. Glad to see her on her feet, her fellow Gullwings approached.

"Are you okay?" Yunie asked.

"She was just trying to get out of the fight," Paine winked at the High Summoner. "Worked, too."

Rikku stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips. "Hey, that's not fair! That 'Bad Breath' attack is no fun at all!"

Paine smirked. "I know that... it's almost as bad as Brother's first thing in the morning."

Yunie laughed, but Rikku merely raised an eyebrow. "And why have you been smelling Brother's breath 'first thing in the morning'?"

Then she ducked and ran as Paine started chasing her.

* * *

The Fayth watched her as the group settled together and headed out. Rikku cast a last glance back before moving on. She wasn't ready. She didn't even know how she felt about him. Or at least, she wouldn't admit it. 

This might be harder than he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Deep in the night, Paine was awake. She'd been sleeping fitfully, but at least she'd been asleep; now, frustratingly, she was staring blankly at the stars and high clouds passing by the Celcius' cabin window above her head. She knew why, but that knowledge provided no comfort.

So she stared, wondering at the places she'd flown through these skies, and how long she'd get to see them like this herself.

Then her warrior's ears caught soft footfalls on the stairs heading up to the loft. She knew Yuna was sleeping soundly in the bed next to hers, which left the feet belonging, from their weight, either to Shinra (doubtful) or to—

"Rikku?" Paine called softly.

The slight form stopped just as she crested the stairs. "You're awake?"

"No, I'm talking in my sleep," Paine replied. "Why are you up?"

"Shhh..." Rikku admonished, "you'll wake Yunie."

"Then come closer," the older girl waved her over. Rikku cat-footed to her bedside and Paine lifted the covers. The tiny girl slipped into her bed, cuddling comfortably to her.

Paine wasn't sure when she'd first allowed that to happen. It was probably some night they'd parked the Celcius out on the Thunder Plains; something about the structure of the ship seemed to magnify thunder into great, wall-rattling detonations, particularly in the cabin where the girls slept. She knew that Rikku had gotten over her fear of thunder, but sometimes on those nights the great rattling had unnerved even Paine. Why Rikku had approached Paine instead of her cousin, the crimson-eyed warrior didn't know, though she suspected it was that Yuna had learned on her pilgrimage to sleep through anything and was dead to the world when the Al Bhed had approached the Summoner. (Which belied the idea that Paine's talking would wake Yuna, but she chose not to dwell on that.)

The warrior was even less sure when she'd moved from merely allowing Rikku into her bed when troubled to actually inviting her, but since Paine had finally learned to open up to her friends about her own past, she found herself doing things that she'd never have dreamed possible. Sort of like traipsing around the Spira in an airship had once seemed.

"So why are you awake?" Paine asked again.

The little thief followed her gaze out to the indigo sky. "Well, nights like this, when we're flying? I can't help but listen to the engines, and if I hear anything weird, I can't sleep until I check it out."

Paine knew, without question, that this was _not_ the reason, but she decided to play along."Something weird?"

"Yeah. Back when Brother and Buddy first dug the Celcius out of the ice, I had to rebuild the whole engine for them." Rikku idly raised an arm towards the window, as if she might just pluck a star from the sky to save under her pillow. "I used to sit and listen to it for hours just to get a feel for when it was running right and when something was wrong. So tonight I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep and I hear this ping—"

"Uhm, Rikku?" the warrior interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Did you say _you_ built the Celcius' engine?"

Rikku giggled. "Brother and Buddy may have excavated the ship, but they couldn't get it running worth poopy until they got me to help."

Paine turned her head to look at Rikku in the darkness. "So Shinra didn't—"

"Ha! Shinra's still a kid."

"So are you," Paine teased.

"Tell that to Pops," Rikku sighed.

"What's that?"

"Never mind. No, Shinra's great with spheres and stuff, but he couldn't build an engine to save his life. Some Al Bhed!" she giggled.

Paine poked the other girl in the ribs and raised a squeak. "Rikku, I have the feeling that there aren't even many _Al Bhed_ that could build an airship engine from scratch."

Rikku looked at her in the dark. "It's not like I was working from chewing gum and paper clips, you know. I actually did have an engine to start with."

The warrior slipped an arm around her friend and pulled her closer. "As you told Yuna once, you _can_ give yourself a pat on the back."

"Not my style, I guess," Rikku snuggled to her. "I'd rather just be having fun."

Paine shook her head slightly. That was her Rikku alright, all fun no fuss. On the surface, that was — down underneath, the little thief was the most caring person she knew. She also knew that if her own proclivities leaned that way even slightly, she could fall deeply for Rikku. But thankfully they didn't: Paine had enough trouble with romantic feelings for someone else as it was.

She leaned her head against Rikku's and felt her cheek dampen. "Your hair is wet," she said inquisitively.

"I took another shower; I was all stinky from the engines."

Paine let out a little breath. "You fixed the engine _now_? While it was _running_?"

"Oh, it was just a clog in one of the intake manifolds," Rikku shrugged. "I had to clear it before we warped a piston or something. And I get to yell at Brother in the morning about keeping the filters clean."

"Hey, can I do that for you?" Paine grinned slyly. "Just tell me what to say."

"Yeah! And say it in Al Bhed, too, that would be hilarious."

They couldn't help but giggle until a mumble came from the next bed over. "What are you two laughing about in the middle of the night? I'm gonna get jealous."

"Sorry Yunie," Rikku was suddenly contrite.

The High Summoner rolled over away from them. "You're not gonna miss me at all when I leave, I just know it."

Paine threw a pillow at her in response. Yuna just tucked it under her head and nestled once more. And Rikku let out a sound like a tiny kitten into Paine's shoulder and cuddled closer.

For that was the reason that neither Paine nor Rikku could sleep that night. Their Yuna was leaving tomorrow.

* * *

The sun was bright in Rikku's eyes as the Celsius came in low across the water, giving her a twinge of nostalgia for her old Al Bhed goggles. It always seemed sunny in Bevelle. Standing near the front of the deck, the sun warmed her, the rushing air cooled her, and the roar of the engines and the wind shook her straight through. She felt none of it. 

It hardly felt like six months since Yuna's first 'meeting' with Baralai, and now she was going to be staying here, in her own suite within the Temple. She'd taken a 'temporary' office with New Yevon, but Rikku would put gil to Guado that some time in the not-so-distant future, star reporter Shelinda would be announcing a SphereNet exclusive interview with "High Summoner Yuna, newly appointed Praetor of New Yevon, taking the role vacated by Baralai, who has now become party Chairman". Or something like that.

She felt she should be happy for Yuna. She _was_ happy for Yuna. But Rikku was feeling sorry enough for herself to completely offset anything resembling a cheery mood. Why couldn't their carefree journey just go on forever? Why, she wondered, only vaguely aware of the silliness of the question, did a journey have to _get_ somewhere?

Rikku heard the deck's automatic door slide open behind her, but like a posted sentry she couldn't turn her eyes from the looming bulk of the city.

"It's a hateful place," she heard Brother say, "trying to take my Yuna away."

"I hear you," she returned. "It's succeeding."

He raised a fist over his head. "She will return!"

Rikku sighed. "Wishful thinking, I'm afraid."

Brother's gesture wilted and he ran the hand through his mohawk. "We are still the Gullwings though, yes?"

She looked over her shoulder at him. "I thought _you_ were the leader of the Gullwings?"

"E ys!" he exclaimed. _I am._ "Yuna _will_ come back! I believe it!"

Rikku's eyes drifted back to Bevelle, the glint of the sun off the magnificent buildings. "If only believing something could make it happen," she said, half to herself.

There was a burst of static from the gull on the front of the deck, and its eyes glowed red. Buddy had installed an intercom there as a joke, but Rikku always thought it was a bit creepy. A voice came through after the static cleared. "Hey Brother," Buddy said, "you might want to get down here. Shinra's threatening to take the ship off auto-pilot and land it himself."

"It's all a matter of vectors and mass," the boy genius' voice came from the background.

Brother looked panicked and hurried back towards the elevator. He passed Yuna and Paine who were just emerging onto the deck.

"What was that about?" Yuna asked Rikku as they joined her.

"He's going to keep Shinra from killing us all," Rikku answered, her voice distant and dull.

"I'm surprised that hasn't happened already," Paine offered.

No one responded. Yuna and Rikku were both staring off at the rapidly approaching city, each lost in her own thoughts.

Paine watched them for a moment sidelong. "I think I've been rubbing off on you two — in a bad way."

"What'cha mean?" Yuna asked, voice and attention far away.

The tall warrior walked to the very edge of the deck, between the others and their views. "I mean, it's not like either of you two to go all broody. That's my job."

Yuna looked up at her, a grateful half-smile on her face. "I'm sorry. I guess I am a little wrapped up in my thoughts."

"And what about her?" Paine indicated the little thief, who was either looking _through_ the warrior, or straight at her navel, it wasn't immediately apparent.

The Summoner elbowed Rikku, who looked over at her blankly. "Did you say something?" the thief asked.

"Brother and Barkeep are getting married," Paine answered, in her nonchalant manner.

"Huh?"

"I said, you're thinking too much," the warrior rolled her eyes. "And not sharing."

Yuna sighed. "I _want_ to take this post at New Yevon." She shook her head. "I think I can make a difference. And I think that it's no longer a matter of 'endorsing' New Yevon over the Youth League."

Paine shrugged. "I'm sure than Nooj understands that."

"Wait," Rikku said, "Brother and Barkeep?"

"And it'll be nice to be on the inside of Yevon, sorting out what is real and important from what we were taught to believe."

The warrior smiled. "You think you can make a difference."

Yuna frowned sadly. "I said that already, didn't I?"

"What about Darling?" Rikku pouted.

"And you want to be close to him," Paine said.

"That's it, isn't it?" Yuna sighed.

"They're not getting married," the brunette had mercy on the confused Al Bhed.

"Darling and Barkeep aren't getting married?" the little thief clasped her hands to her cheeks.

Paine shook her head at Yuna. "It's no big deal, Yuna. There's nothing wrong with that — it's a nice bonus. Don't feel guilty."

The Summoner touched Rikku's shoulder. "Sure they are, sweetie."

Rikku did a little half dance. "Darling and Barkeep are getting married?!"

"Eventually," Yuna responded. "I think."

Then Rikku's face crumpled. "But what about Brother?"

Yuna looked at Paine seriously, finally expressing her doubts. "Do you think I'm betraying him?"

The Al Bhed raised an eyebrow at her. "Brother?"

"Rikku!" the warrior had finally had enough. "Catch up."

The thief looked chagrinned, but screwed up her face as if she'd set about rearranging the conversation in her head. In truth, she'd followed all too well.

Paine laid a hand on High Summoner's shoulder. "It's been, what, almost four years now, Yuna, since the Eternal Calm began? And the truth is, I've never seen you as happy as you've been in these past six months. I can't say what it was like for you back then, on your pilgrimage, but I know what you're like now, and I think Baralai has been very good for you."

Their friend smiled in her humble, eyes-down way. "I have been happy," Yuna said, "just guilty too."

"Don't feel guilty," Paine responded. "You deserve joy in your life. Maybe more than anyone else on Spira, _you_ deserve it, after bringing it to so many."

Rikku was strangely silent, and hoped Yuna hadn't noticed. Two years after defeating Sin, Yuna had still been in Besaid, besieged with requests for council from all over Spira, thinking nothing for herself or her own happiness or needs. That's why Rikku had pestered her to join the Gullwings. And dragging her (and then practically chasing her) from place to place had been good for her cousin.

But part of that new life, that new adventure, had been to find Tidus. To bring Yuna back to her lost love, or find out for sure that he was gone. And they'd done neither.

Rikku knew that Paine was right, that Yuna's new relationship with Baralai was good for her, but still, some part of her... she felt that something was unfinished. So she got the guilt part too. But was that something Yuna should feel, or Rikku?

She was hoping Yuna hadn't noticed her silence. No such luck.

"Rikku, do _you_ think I'm betraying him?" her cousin turned to her.

The little thief, as was her way, said the first thing that came to her mind. "If you could magically make him appear, would you?"

Yuna appeared startled, and something in her face clicked in Rikku then. Her own dream of the Fayth had been real.

"No..." Yuna answered, her eyes suddenly on the decking. Then she raised her head more confidently. "No, I don't think I would."

Paine smiled at the Summoner. "Then there's your answer. I think you're honoring him."

Yuna looked back and forth between them then, her eyes suddenly liquid and bright. "I really love you guys, you know that?" And knowing who would take it more comfortably, Yuna grabbed Rikku for a long hug.

Rikku held her cousin tightly, as she knew Yuna wanted, and smiled at Paine over Yuna's shoulder.

But something inside Rikku, stirring anew with the Summoner's response to Rikku's question, curiously felt that maybe Yuna should be hugging Paine, instead.

* * *

"Mish Reekoo, what can I do for yoo?" Barkeep said, cloth in one hand polishing the bar, as Rikku sat down on a stool next to Paine. 

"We have any Sweet Flan left?" the Al Bhed asked.

"I think sho," the hypello responded and shuffled off to the back.

Paine stirred her apparently cooling cup of kirman coffee with a finger. "Right for the hard stuff, huh?"

"Hey," Rikku answered, "I held off for nearly a week."

The warrior took a sip. "As restless as you've been, I wish you'd caved earlier," she said from behind the mug.

"No sphere waves, _tyssed_!" the thief cussed. "How can there be no sphere waves in a week?!"

"After those weird Hypello dance spheres, I thought you'd be _glad_ for a break."

Rikku dropped her chin to her stacked fists on the bar. "I think Buddy's detector is broken."

Paine touched her shoulder. "I miss her too," she said softly.

Rikku just stared straight ahead, not responding.

The warrior sat back and drained her cold coffee. "So should we visit Clasko?"

Rikku raised an eyebrow at that, and turned it on her friend.

"Something to do," Paine shrugged. "How about Tobli? I'm sure he has some crisis he needs fixing."

The little thief sat up, spun her stool around backwards, and leaned back with her elbows on the bar. "Always does."

"Or we could, uhm, go see Elma and Lucil. See if the Youth League needs anything."

Rikku looked at Paine warily. "You mean visit Nooj, don't you?"

The warrior wouldn't meet her eyes. "Since saying anything about Nooj would lead first to you teasing me and second to me killing you, I'm not saying a word."

Rikku felt a sudden tenseness grip her stomach. Even two months past, it was too soon, too fast after Yunie's leaving to even joke about Paine and Nooj. Instead she said nothing, grateful that Barkeep chose that moment to return with her Sweet Flan, and although she no longer had much of an appetite, she turned back to the bar and lifted a spoonful to her mouth for an excuse to not answer Paine.

"Ish there anything elsh?" the hypello asked her.

"No, thanks," Rikku answered around her mouthful of flan.

"Then I'll be in the back," Barkeep said. "Darling wansht me to watch blitshball wish her."

"'K," Rikku said and he shuffled off. "Is it blitz season already?" she asked Paine.

Paine shrugged. "Just started. The Aurochs won the opening tournament again, can you believe it?"

Rikku gave her a look. "You're a blitzball fan? How did I not know that? And how did I miss the opening tournament? I _always_ watch that!"

The brunette returned the look. "You've been a little distracted lately, from what I can tell. You wanna talk about that?"

The Al Bhed put down her spoon. "No. Yes. No."

"Very decisive," Paine said, "Oh, and Brother has the tournament on sphere, if you want to watch it."

"He always does," she answered, her tone distant and a little sullen.

Paine stood. "Well, we need to do _something_ to occupy ourselves. This doesn't feel like the Gullwings I signed up with."

The little thief leaned her temple on her hand, facing her friend. "I'm sorry."

The brunette leaned around her and dabbed a finger in Rikku's flan, bringing it to her lips. "When you wanna talk, let me know," she said, and stuck the finger in her mouth, savoring the flavor for a moment. "I owe you some ear-time anyway, after considerably more bugging." She winked at Rikku, then turned on her heel, looking back over her shoulder. "For now, I'm gonna go annoy Shinra," she said, and headed out of the cabin.

Rikku watched her go, then turned back to her dessert. She scooped another spoonful, but just stared at its shimmery goodness for a while instead of eating it. She hadn't wanted to talk to Paine about what was bothering her because she didn't _know_ what it was. Or it was so many things that she couldn't put them into words.

She looked over her shoulder at the portrait of Cid on the wall. It had been made from Brother's favorite sphere-shot of their father, with the "old" man in full-on cranky mode, yelling at someone whom Rikku couldn't remember but felt sorry for nonetheless. The image reminded Brother of why he was up here, flying around Spira, instead of wherever Pops was, drumming up support for rebuilding Home. And that was one thing that was bothering Rikku: her guilt over not doing anything to support her father in that endeavor. She used to think it was just a fool's errand, and that eventually he'd come to his senses. But then there was that day in Bevelle all those months ago now, when she and Cid had spent the day just hanging out together, taking in the sights. Rikku hated to admit it, but looking at all the buildings in the city of Yevon, listening to her father's running commentary about architecture and form and function, had started her seeing things through his eyes. And more, she realized that in a way she'd always done that.

Surprisingly, she was her father's daughter after all.

So what did that mean? Her parents had married before Pops had gone about gathering the scattered Al Bhed and building Home in the first place. Then, after Mom died, he'd been so busy running things that he never had the time to— well, Rikku knew there was no one who could _replace_ Mom in Pops' heart, and she wouldn't have been all that keen to get herself a stepmother and all, but having someone in his life would be good for Pops. But in running Home he was literally _running_, always busy with this or that. Even after the war, rebuilding was his single-minded purpose.

Was that her fate?

Maybe rebuilding Home was a good thing, and maybe her father was right in saying that Rikku was the best chance the Al Bhed had of coming back together. But is that how her life would go then? All business, and never a chance to find someone to love?

She could hear the sounds of the blitz game that Barkeep and Darling were watching in the back. Probably snuggled together on their little couch.

Yuna was, for all practical purposes, living with Baralai.

Paine had pushed through her self-imposed solitude, and was now looking forward to a bright future herself, maybe with a certain hunky faction leader of her own.

Rikku set down her spoon, pushed the plate of Sweet Flan to the other edge of the bar, and laid her head down on her arms, doing everything in her power not to cry.

* * *

Luca was bustling, as it always was during blitz season, and Paine, Rikku, Buddy and Shinra practically had to shove their way through the throngs as they headed towards the Sphere Theater end of town. Buddy and Rikku actually had to pull Paine back when someone knocked Shinra over accidentally, and Rikku was afraid the warrior was going to pull a weapon on the guy as he tried to draw the air to apologize through a throat constricted by Paine's gripping palm. 

"Come _on_, Paine," Rikku tried to soothe, "no need for extreme violence." As they moved on, the brunette's hand protectively on Shinra's shoulder, Rikku turned a glare on Buddy.

"Something funny?" she growled at the smile he was wearing.

"She's like our personal army," he returned.

"Hey!" Rikku cuffed him on the back of the head, "I'd killed more fiends than she has by the time I was sixteen!"

"Yeah, but you didn't look as mean as she does doin' it," Buddy shrugged. "Must be the leather."

"Oh for Yevon's sake," she rolled her eyes. "Always with the leather. We should have left you minding the ship with Brother."

"The way he was sulking over the Psyches' last loss, no way I was staying."

Paine looked over her shoulder at him. "She didn't say she'd have given you a choice. She can be mean if she wants to."

Rikku raised her chin. "Thank you, Paine."

The brunette's eye got a twinkle. "But it's a cute mean," she added, then darted away from Rikku's swing.

"So what do you think Leblanc wants?" Buddy asked his fellow Gullwings.

"Couldn't be to steal our spheres, we don't have any," Shinra responded.

The navigator raised his hands. "Hey, I told you all, the sphere detector _that Shinra built_ isn't broken." When no one responded, he just shrugged. "Fine, don't believe me."

"Probably just operator error," Paine smirked.

At the angry furrow of his brow above his Al Bhed goggles, Rikku poked him in the arm with a finger. "The leather's not so hot now, is it?"

He was saved from any further ribbing when they arrived at their destination, an expansive building, obviously newly constructed, sitting to the left of the Sphere Theater as they faced it. There was a large sign above the front door, but at the moment it was covered with a banner than merely read "Opening Soon".

Paine pulled on the handle and Shinra slipped under her arm and inside. The others nearly tripped over him as they followed, finding him standing stock still just inside the door.

"Shinra, can you move out of the—" Rikku began, and then stopped, glancing at the expressions on her companions' faces. Paine and Buddy too were just standing, their eyes wide, heads slowly swiveling to encompass the room before them. At last she turned her own head to follow their gaze.

The room before them was a sphere hunter's paradise. Display cases made of cut crystal were placed with spartan elegance about the room's interior. The far wall was lined with projectors canvassing the screens above them with moving images of blitzball games, family picnics, news reports, even Yuna's Thunder Plains concert. Still-frame blow-ups hung suspended from the ceiling, along with arrowed signs that read "Restrooms" and "Gift Shop".

There were spheres everywhere: within the cases, in little shelves on the walls, beneath crystal tiles laid into the floor.

Leblanc's voice greeted them from a door at the side of the vast chamber. "Welcome, Gullwings, to Leblanc's Sphere Museum!"

"Catchy name," Paine replied, but she was so absorbed in taking in the surroundings her sarcasm sounded remarkably flat.

The sphere hunter approached them as Logos and Ormi waddled in from a side room manhandling yet another display case. "I picked it myself," Leblanc answered.

As her fellows moved into the room to browse the displays, Rikku marveled at their former rival. "Wow, Leblanc," she said, "I didn't realize you had found so many spheres!"

"Well," Leblanc raised her hands, "as much as I'd love to claim that honor, it isn't true. I realized there was a better way to get these beauties than traipsing around Spira hanging off mountains for them."

"The boss is a genius!" Ormi chimed in.

"Especially when it means less work for us," Logos smiled.

The stouter henchman grunted. "Speak for yourself; I'm holding up most of the case here."

"Complain, complain," Logos rolled his eyes. "If you weren't so short—"

"If you would bend down a little more!"

"Please, my back is already in a delicate way from putting all this together—"

"_Quiet!"_ their leader thundered. "We have guests."

"Yes boss," the two answered in unison, slouching their way back to work.

The buxom blonde huffed and shook her head, then turned back to Rikku.

"How did you get them?" the Al Bhed asked.

Leblanc smiled. "I bought them."

"Well that's... original," Paine said, examining a sphere projector in the back.

"I have an agent in Guadosalam offering fair value for them."

"Tromell?" Rikku puzzled.

Leblanc waved that off. "Yevon, no. The innkeeper."

"You mean the guy who paid us 100,000 gil for his own information?" Shinra piped up.

"He's not very smart," the Syndicate leader shrugged, "but once he was trained in proper sphere appraisal he does very well."

Buddy looked over from where he stood at a "Touch me!" display that allowed one to examine a genuine sphere up close. "So you buy other hunters' spheres, and you're gonna let the public see them all. That's pretty magnanimous."

Leblanc smiled. "For a — uhm, _nominal_ — door fee."

"We're gonna be rich!" Ormi chimed in. "Wa-ha-ha-ha!"

"It's not _evil_, you numbskull," his boss chided. "It's a legitimate business." She smiled at Rikku sweetly. "And a service to the public."

Paine shook her head. "You might get rich, as well as you've put this place together."

"Why thank you, Paine," Leblanc responded. "Actually we had help. Both the Youth League and the Machine Faction pitched in to help build it. And I'm close to a deal with _your_ former compatriot over at New Yevon to display a number of their spheres."

Rikku drew her wide-eyed gaze back to the other blonde. "This is really great, Leblanc. I'm glad you invited us to see it before you opened."

"Actually," she shrugged, "I called you because I need a favor from tall, gray and silent over there."

The warrior swiveled a glance their way, raising a single eyebrow in response.

"I'm creating a wing to show the history of sphere recording," Leblanc answered the gaze, "and since you were a professional recorder back before the Calm I was hoping you could help me design it."

Rikku did a little half-dance step. "That's a great idea!"

Paine looked at her. "It is?"

"Of _course_ it is!" the blonde answered. "You've been looking for something to do."

The warrior sighed. "I have." This wasn't what she had in mind.

"It should only take a week or two," Leblanc said. "We don't want to hold up the opening, of course. I'm just looking for simple and tasteful."

"Like your clothes," Paine said.

"Exactly," the buxom blonde answered. "Shall I show you the space I have in mind?"

Paine swallowed. "Right now?"

"No time like the present!" Leblanc took her arm, and began to lead her away.

The brunette sent a pleading glance over her shoulder at Rikku, who simply smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"Give them a tour, boys," Leblanc called to her henchmen. "Will you?"

"Yes boss," they intoned together.

As the two women walked away, Buddy moved back to Rikku and leaned in close. "So what do you think? Sizing up the competition on Noojie-Woojie?"

"Totally," Rikku smiled.

* * *

It was mid-morning of the following day when Rikku, standing in the loft and watching clouds drift by like whispers of thought in her head, felt the ship suddenly bank beneath her. As she shifted her feet to maintain balance, the room's speaker crackled to life. 

"Rikku, come to the bridge!" came Brother's tense voice. "It's Father!"

She leapt from the balcony to the cabin floor, bypassing the stairs, and was through the door that lead to the elevator before the pneumatic winch had even gotten it completely open. She leapt again from the bridge's balcony entrance to the main floor, scarf streaming behind her, boot soles skidding across the corrugated metal.

Buddy swiveled in his seat to face her. "We caught a distress call from the Fahrenheit. Seems she was finishing up a trip in Zanarkand and got caught in a monster storm over Mount Gagazet. The engines failed and she crashed, but the signal was so weak we couldn't catch how badly she was damaged."

Rikku darted to Shinra's station and hovered there, feet shifting nervously. "Can you get a message to them, let them know we're on our way?"

The boy's gloved hands were dancing across his knobs and dials like a pianist's. "I'm trying to cut through the interference, but it's not easy."

"Then call Kimahri, tell him to expect us," she said. "Maybe they can get word to Pops."

She marched up into the forward bubble, and turned to look at Brother. "How long?"

"Couple of hours," he said, not sparing her a glance, droplets of sweat on his brow.

"Fly faster," Rikku told him.

"I'm trying," Brother answered.

She dropped into her own chair, where her meters monitored the engines and other mechanical ship functions. Brother was keeping the engines flirting with red line already. She tapped a couple of buttons, twiddled a knob or two, shutting down some less critical systems and leaving more power for speed. Brother met her eyes as he felt the change, and she nodded at him. He took a deep breath and accelerated further, the wind howling ferociously past the glass before and around them.

There was nothing to do now but wait.

* * *

Rikku was bundled in her warmest clothes. She kneeled down, digging under her bed to pull out a case there. Opening it, she sorted through her private collection of tools, the ones she didn't share with Brother or Buddy. The mythril adjustable spanner. The adamantite socket set. The good stuff, she smiled to herself. Sitting back on her heels, she scoured her mind for anything she might need to help Pops or fix the Fahrenheit. That ship had served them well against Sin, but it had been found underwater, and was now regularly abused by Gippal and the Machine Faction traipsing all over the desert with it, getting sand in all its vitals. 

Rikku blinked. Like the Celcius, she was the one who got that ship going too. She and Tidus. The first time they'd met.

Sound from below the loft brought her out of her reverie. She heard Barkeep talking with Brother in urgent tones. Standing, securing the tools in a large waist pouch, Rikku drifted down the stairs, eyeing with a frown the bar piled high with wrapped food and bottled drink, along with a healthy couple of stacks of blankets. Brother was filling a pair of large duffles as Barkeep arranged things for him.

"I can't carry all that stuff," Rikku said.

"I am going with you!" Brother answered, looking over at her.

"You don't have to," Rikku told him, "I've been over this mountain plenty of times." But he held up a hand.

"I am a better pilot than whoever is working for Father now. It is no help for you to fix the Fahrenheit's engines if some fool is just going to fly it into Mount Gagazet."

The little thief sighed. As much as she didn't want to have to look after him on the dangerous trek, she did have to admit to two things: one, the things he and Barkeep were packing could prove invaluable, and two, regardless of the differences and arguments between Brother and Cid, they were the same on one particular thing — unfathomable stubbornness. Nothing short of violence would keep Brother from coming. And there just wasn't time to administer a decent amount of violence to her brother and still make it to the the Fahrenheit before her crew froze to death. So Rikku shook her head and headed for the cabin door, grabbing a duffle on the way. "Let's go then," she told him as she went by, leaving Brother madly stuffing the other sack and trying to drag it after her at the same time.

Buddy was already settling the Celcius as gently as he could (Rikku did have to admit that Brother was a good pilot, at least by comparison) at the base of Mt. Gagazet as the lift dropped into the bay at the ship's belly. The two headed down the stairs past the engines and Rikku cinched up her collar with one hand as she worked the bay door controls with the other. A blast of frigid mountain air hit them both as the door descended. From the corner of her eye she could see Brother shiver and step back involuntarily, but she said nothing as she bent to grab the duffle then walked down the ramp and onto the snow-washed path that led up to the Ronso commons beyond the pillars. To his credit, Brother said nothing as he followed.

The comm-sphere at Rikku's waist crackled. "Keep in touch," Buddy said, as he lifted the ship back up, heading for a safe distance beyond the inclement weather.

"Stay available," she answered.

"Will do," the navigator replied, then clicked off.

Rikku found her mood as gray as the skies as they climbed the gentle slope, as far away from her cheerful nature as Gagazet was from Bikanel. The clearing was bustling as the two entered, but she spotted the familiar form of her old friend Kimahri instantly, even amongst the throng. He wasn't an overpowering presence, like the former Ronso elder Maester Kelk (who had frankly scared Rikku a bit), but instead drew the eyes of others through a kind of silent grace. He saw the two Al Bhed arrive and turned his head slightly to issue a quiet command to the woman Rikku always saw by his side lately. Rikku realized, a little startled, that she didn't even know the woman's name. Kimahri had a companion and Rikku the Gossip didn't know a thing about her. The woman left to do the elder's bidding and he himself approached her across the snow, hard packed and slick beneath the fresh layer of flakes that fluttered down around them all.

"It good to see you Rikku," he greeted her. "And also Brother."

"Hey Kimahri," she returned. "Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble," he shook his head. "Rikku help Ronso, so Ronso help Al Bhed."

"Is there any word?" she asked.

"Shinra's comm-spheres not work so well in storm," Kimahri answered.

She looked up towards the peak, shrouded in heavy clouds and dim from the thick blowing snow. "Or there's no one that can call you."

A large blue hand rested upon her shoulder. "Mountain is good to those who respect it. Rikku's father one of those."

"Thanks, Kimahri," Rikku said, her voice small and fragile.

The Ronso woman approached the elder. "All is ready."

Kimahri nodded. He gestured towards the path that led up the mountain and half a dozen Ronso laden with supplies fell in behind them.

The little thief raised an eyebrow at him. He touched a hand to his broad chest. "If Rikku climb sacred mountain, Kimahri climb with her."

She could almost feel Brother smile at her, but ignored it. She knew better than to argue with _this_ offer.

* * *

The benefit of the company was that it discouraged fiends from attacking. That the Ronso were so familiar with the terrain also helped them make steady progress despite the weather, which worsened with altitude. It would have been much harder, and certainly much slower, had it only been herself and Brother. Also Kimahri, clearly sensing Rikku's almost desperate case of nerves, had foregone his usual taciturn nature to keep her engaged in pleasantly distracting conversation. 

"Lian and Ayde spend summer with Youth League in Kilika. Help build new road from town to temple."

Rikku nodded. "It certainly needed one. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten lost in those woods. They're like a maze!"

"Kimahri remember too, from Pilgrimage," the Ronso responded.

She looked away, thoughtful. "I know I didn't join you guys until the Moonflow, but I still remember every step like it was yesterday."

"That because Rikku short, take many more steps," the Elder said.

Rikku blinked at him, then a broad grin spread across her face. "Kimahri, was that a joke? 'Cause it was a good one!" She rolled her eyes, feigning hurt. "Even if it did come at my expense."

"Rikku tough," his eyes shifted to her and away, slyly, "can take it."

She sighed heavily. "Kimahri joking, what's Spira coming to?"

He looked at her. "Kimahri joke before."

"Not much," she pursed her lips at him.

He lifted his head. "More than Auron, less than Wakka. Just enough."

She smiled again. "I like it. When did you start this whole joking thing? Certainly not as 'Master of the Sacred Mountain'," she teased.

"Learn from Tidus," he nodded. "Good teacher."

The Ronso Elder was a good observer of humans. Living among them, caring for Yuna all those years, had made him quite attuned to their moods, their fears and needs, and, amongst all their boasting and yelling and jabbering, to the things they _didn't_ say. So he was instantly aware of Rikku's tiny flinch and sudden closing, the slight flush to her cheeks visible even through the redness the chill air brought to her skin, at the mention of Tidus' name.

The little Al Bhed cinched her collar again as the knifing wind hit her with a cascade of flakes, icy needles on her skin where they touched her face and snuck through her clothes. Kimahri adjusted his stride, allowing his broad shoulders to shield her. "Now Yuna begins new Pilgrimage in Bevelle."

Rikku looked at him sidelong.

He shrugged. "Ronso not hide on Gagazet. Kimahri hears from all of Spira."

"Especially about Yuna."

"Yes."

She smiled. "Once a Guardian, always a Guardian."

"Yes." He didn't smile, but there was a sparkle to his eyes.

After a few more trudging steps through the now drifting snow, Rikku sighed. "I miss her, Kimahri."

The big Ronso laid a heavy paw on her shoulder. "Kimahri left guarding Yuna to Rikku. Now Rikku leaves to someone else: Praetor of New Yevon."

"I know she'll be okay," she watched her booted feet.

He stopped, which forced her to do the same and look at him. "Kimahri know too. But Kimahri guards Ronso and sacred mountain. Now Rikku needs someone new to guard."

She averted her gaze once more. "I wish I had someone."

"Rikku will find," his voice was serene, solid. "Rikku searching now."

"I may be good at guarding, but I stink at searching. We never found Tidus for Yuna." Again, an almost inaudible break in her voice at the blitzballer's name.

A tiny shrug. "Maybe Yuna not looking for Tidus. Maybe Yuna looking for Praetor Baralai and not know it."

She cocked her head at him, considering. Then her face brightened. "Hey, maybe you're right. I never thought of it that way."

They resumed their ascent, and Kimahri noted her steps, despite the heavy snow, seemed lighter now.

To himself, he added, a small grin on his lips. "Maybe _Rikku_ looking for Tidus."

The storm blew on.

* * *

As the party moved through the caves high up the mountain, Rikku found herself shivering at the eerie wailing that the wind made through the vast hollow chambers of rock. Near the far exit, their comm-spheres, no longer blocked by the dense rock of Gagazet, picked up the signals from the Fahrenheit. Their conditions were bad, but not desperate. Rikku decided they could wait an hour or two, hoping for the storm to die down a bit, rather than risk the worst of it crossing the peak. 

It was not an easy decision, and Brother and Kimahri found her impossible to talk to; she couldn't help herself but stand at the cave's exit, and watch the accumulating snow. Finally Kimahri eased Brother back to the small gathering of other Ronso farther in, assuring the Al Bhed that his sister simply needed to be alone for a while, and was not likely to leave without them.

The snow blew in sideways curtains, swirling in the space just outside the exit in an almost hypnotic pattern from which Rikku couldn't turn away. Her thoughts swirled too, in a mimicry of the view before her eyes. Somehow she didn't start when she heard the light and gentle voice beside her.

"It's beautiful in a way," he said, his eyes shadowed from her, as before, by the brim of his hat.

"Like a sandstorm outside your tent," she answered. "Only colder."

"But just as frustrating," he observed, glancing up at her.

"Tell me about it." Rikku looked around. "Anyone else coming?" she asked.

The Fayth grinned. "Things are a little more difficult when you're awake."

The little thief felt her stomach twist. "He wasn't real, was he?"

"He was real to you," the diminutive form shrugged.

She lowered her head. "But it wasn't really him. It was just... my thinking of him. My image."

He paused before answering. "He wouldn't remember the conversation, no," he admitted finally.

Rikku's voice was very small. "I miss him."

"Is that the wish of your heart?"

Her eyes went very wide. "Oh, gosh! Wouldn't that spook the chocobos!"

The Fayth raised an eyebrow at her. "Would it?"

She waved her arms. "And I explain that to Yuna how? 'Oh, hey Yuna, yeah, I know that we looked for Tidus for a year all around Spira and then you decided to move on with your life even though he was your great love but I asked the Fayth to bring him back for me because he was a really good friend of mine and I missed him and I know that might mess up your relationship with Baralai but hey this is about me not how you feel and how he feels and I really just needed someone to talk to so I thought what the heck and made a wish.'" She leaned down to look in his eyes. "Think that would go over well?"

"Not if you put it like that," he answered flatly. "But are you sure that's how it goes?"

The Al Bhed looked back out at the swirling snow. "How else could it go?"

"Many ways," he shrugged.

"None good."

He paused a moment before he spoke again. "Have you examined your heart?"

"Arghhhhhh!" she practically yelled, fists to her temples. "Why does everyone keep pressuring me?!!"

The youth stepped between Rikku and the cave entrance. Though his height should have made it impossible, to Rikku it seemed he blocked the entire view. "It would seem to me that the pressure you speak of is applied by _you_. Have you not traveled about Spira, lending your aid?"

She was tentative. "Yes..."

"And whose choice was this?"

"I was asked—"

"Indeed," he cut her off. "_Asked_ for help. You choose when to provide it, and when not."

Rikku shook her head. "But if I don't help people, maybe they don't get help!"

"So you follow your heart."

"Yeah! Of course I do."

"Your father said he would have you consider following in his footsteps someday."

She hung her head. "Be the leader of the Al Bhed."

The Fayth cocked his head. "Are you not already a leader of the Al Bhed?"

Rikku held her arms akimbo. "_A_ leader, not _the_ leader."

"Is it such a difference, through the lens of many years?" he shrugged.

"I don't know..." she sighed.

"What does your heart tell you?"

"Maybe," she answered, her voice small. "It tells me maybe, maybe Pops is right, maybe I should be the one to do it."

His lips twitched to a grin. "So you listen to your heart then?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and growled.

"There are many possibilities, Princess of the Al Bhed," the Fayth said to her. "Many futures, many feelings to consider, many risks to take in this life."

He backed away from her, through the cave entrance and into the swirling winds and snow. His voice was fading amidst the gale, and Rikku had to pursue him to hear his words.

"You are a risk taker," he said. "It has been your course through Spira. You once told him," and she knew of what 'him' the Fayth spoke, "in so many words, that life is short. That you must seize what it offers you."

She stepped out of the cave and the storm was subsiding, the snow lessening, the breeze falling away. As she remembered him doing before, the Fayth himself was vanishing as well.

"There are many paths, Rikku," the Fayth said. "But inside you, only one heart. Only one choice."

He faded out of view. The blizzard, suddenly broken, drifted away on heavy clouds to free the sun into a blue sky.

She found herself looking at Zanarkand.

* * *

"It's g-good to see my li-little girl," Cid had stammered through his shivers as Kimahri and another Ronso forced open a door to the Fahrenheit. The lack of power from the failed engines had trapped it closed against the cold-weakened passengers. 

Rikku had thrown a blanket about her father's shoulders and wrapped it and herself around him. "You need a proper engineer on this bucket of bolts."

"Yeah, well my best one is fl-flying around Spira on some long joy ride," he had answered, before shooing her off to the engine room and grabbing some of the supplies the party had brought and helping attend to the rest of the crew.

It only took about twenty minutes for her to get the power plant running again and soon heat was pumping through the corridors once more. She assured the ship's engineer that given the sudden storm he had done his best and wasn't to blame. Brother was considerably less tactful with the pilot as he lifted the vessel, much larger than their own Celsius, off the mountain and down towards the ruined city, where they'd be out of the elements and have an easier time making repairs.

Other than monkeys repeatedly stealing their tools, of course.

As night fell they set a bonfire in a familiar spot across from the ruins, and Cid regaled them with the harrowing story of the storm's sudden appearance, the dangerous descent, and his own brave leadership that kept everyone alive. For once, Brother didn't even interrupt to bring the old man down to earth. Rikku ate the fine Ronso cuisine in silence and then leaned sleepily against Kimahri's soft blue bulk while she listened.

After a while her eyes, half-closed, fixed on the quietly dancing pyreflies over the water. They soared and swam in the air, and watching them, Rikku felt herself stand and drift around the fire, her eyes only leaving the sight to find purchase for her feet as she climbed the low hill. As she reached the top, dozens of the luminescent spirits swept around her tiny form, and she could swear she felt a feathery touch, like two arms wrapping about her. She shut her eyes and locked the sensation inside herself like a memory.

It was the only thing that kept her heart from breaking.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **_I realized when looking at my outline that I've made these chapters too darned long. Which unfortunately means it takes a ton of time to finish them. So I'm relenting: this is Chapter 4A, so you guys have _something_ to read while I finish up the chappy. It also makes me feel better, posting something more than once a year_:-P

_Also, I wanted to note my new homepage and ask a favor: On my new homepage (http://web. I keep illustrated versions of my fanfics... not with drawings of my own (those would be horrible!) but with screencaps and stuff. Except, I don't have any pics to put with my Tikku story here _:-( _Can someone send me an e-mail and suggest somewhere I can find some appropriate caps? I'd appreciate it!_

_Now on with the story!_

* * *

"Of _course_ I'll be your Matron of Honor, Yuna!" Lulu said, the delight in her voice obvious. "That is, if you don't mind me looking very pregnant in my bridesmaid's gown," she smiled at the woman she considered her little sister, and her fiancé standing beside her.

"Lulu," Rikku said, "you barely looked pregnant at all when you were having Vidina. You'll probably look better than either me or Paine, for Yevon's sake."

The gray-haired warrior looked at the little Al Bhed. "Speak for yourself."

The Praetor of New Yevon tried to hide a grin as she looked around at her friends, all standing in Lulu's and Wakka's small hut in Besaid. "As long as none of you look better than me," she said, "I'm fine with all of you."

The mage and thief groaned aloud. "Please, Yuna," Lulu answered. "We've _seen_ you in a wedding dress, remember?"

"Yeah," Rikku continued. "No one _in Spira_ will look better than you."

Despite the dark memory, Yuna laughed. She took Baralai's hand and exchanged a smile with him. "I'm hoping things won't go quite so bad this time."

"I say we ban all weapons from the ceremony, ya?" came Wakka's cheerful voice as he ducked into the hut.

"Oh, Wakka, there you are!" Yuna said, turning to face her old guardian. "You heard us?"

He raised his hands. "Four women, talking about a wedding? The fishermen on the other side of the island heard you!"

"Ha, ha," Rikku rolled her eyes at him. "Hey, where's Vidina?"

"He's out stealing blitzballs from the Aurochs," he hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "You wanna chase him around for a while? 'Cause you're overdue on babysitting detail and he's wearing his father out."

Paine laid a hand on Rikku shoulder to keep her from taking up the offer. "I'll go," she said to the big man. "I'm afraid they're going to start talking taffeta in here."

"Chicken!" the little thief called after her friend as Paine headed outside.

As Wakka sat down beside Lulu, Yuna smiled at him. "Not afraid of wedding-talk?"

"Nah," he waved a hand in dismissal. "I been through it once, and it wasn't so bad."

Baralai winked at him. "Not _so_ bad." He dodged a swat from Yuna.

"Besides, I need to catch up with my favorite Summoner — oops, I mean _Praetor_," Wakka grinned.

"Oh, stop," Yuna blushed, "you know I'm always just Yuna to you guys."

"You're never 'just Yuna' to us," Lulu said. "You're our family."

"Yeah, Yunie!" the Al Bhed echoed.

The High Summoner looked down at her shuffling feet. "I'm glad you feel that way..." she said hesitantly, "...because we do have one other favor to ask."

"As long as you don't want _me_ in a bridesmaid dress," Wakka said, "just name it."

Yuna laughed at that image, feeling warmth flow through her at how her friends and former Guardians always made her feel at ease. "Well, we were hoping to have the ceremony here, in Besaid." She gestured over her shoulder. "In the temple."

"Oh," Lulu said, her brow creasing slightly.

Wakka exchanged a glance with his wife. "Wow, that's a lot of people."

"I know it should be in Bevelle," Yuna hurried on, "being where New Yevon is headquartered..."

Rikku screwed up her face in sympathy. "But you had a wedding there, and not so good, right?"

The Praetor matched her sad smile. "Not the _best_ memories, no. I didn't want to have such a direct comparison in the guests' minds, it wouldn't be fair to Baralai."

The silver-haired Chairman of New Yevon opened his mouth to protest, but his fiancée cut him off. "No, we've talked about this." She looked back at Lulu and Wakka, who were still woolgathering. "I know that Bevelle is really my home town, so—"

Lulu looked up at her sharply and cut her off. "Nonsense. Besaid is your home town, Yuna. Of _course_ you can have your wedding here."

"Oh, yeah!" the big blitzballer jumped in. "We'd love to have it here. It's just... you're not getting married next week, are you? 'Cause it'll take a while to get a party this big planned, ya?"

Yuna let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it won't be _that_ many people that want to come, do you think?"

Baralai smiled to himself and looked at his feet while the other three friends all started laughing so hard that the Summoner could only look between them in dismay.

"Yuna, sweetheart," Lulu said gently, "just the _Hypello_ who'll want to attend will fill the temple."

"Yeah," Wakka added, "we'll have trouble fitting all the guests on the island, much less just in the village."

Rikku poked her cousin in the ribs teasingly. "The Al Bhed Airship Shuttle Service is gonna be busy with a capital 'biz'. I can practically hear Oaka the Twenty-third and Rin fighting over the concessions business now!"

The humble brunette waved her hands at her friends. "Oh, no, it's too much, you're right," she nodded at Lulu. "I wasn't thinking. We should have it in Bevelle."

Wakka stood and put his arm around Yuna's shoulders. "No way! Long as we have time, this is gonna be a fun party to plan, ya?"

"That's right, Yunie!" the little thief said. "Just leave it all up to us!" Then she amended herself. "Well, not _all_ up to us, I mean, you'll want to pick out the dresses, and the flowers, and the music, and the date, and the guestlists, and the way the invitations look, and the cake, and the mrphrmrs—"

Baralai's hand over Rikku's mouth had abruptly ceased her jabbering.

"I'll prepare lists of things for you to look over," Lulu said soothingly to Yuna, whose eyes had gotten very wide at her cousin's litany. "Since I've done this before."

"Oh that would be great, Lulu," the High Summoner said with a sigh. "Things are always so busy for me in Bevelle. Even with Baralai's help."

A laughing Vidina suddenly ran in to the tent and ducked behind Rikku's legs. He was followed by a giant Tonberry. A muffled voice emerged from the green beast.

"Vidina, give me back my garment grid!"

Rikku grabbed up the small boy and ran around the hut, escaping the Tonberry's grasp by ducking around Yuna and Wakka. They fled out the door with Vidina squealing in delight, as Paine's muffled voice followed, not nearly as effectively as her costumed body. "Rikku! Bring him back!"

As the great green beast shuffled off, Wakka turned to Yuna. "You think you're busy now? Wait 'til you and Baralai have kids!"

The two lovers could only look at each other in wide-eyed horror.

* * *

The Celsius was docked outside Guadosalam once more, having stopped to allow Yuna and Baralai to deliver the announcement and an invitation to Tromell. The Guado leader, delighted at the news and flattered that the High Summoner would invite him despite the fiasco of the Guado and her first "wedding", insisted that the couple and the Gullwings spend the night. Rikku's belly was stuffed with good food from the sumptuous impromptu banquet the Guado had thrown together. Though all that food was making her drowsy, the nearness of the Farplane had proved too powerful a draw, and the little Al Bhed stood in the empty chamber of eternity, occasionally leaning over the rail, both disappointed and hopeful that Tidus would not appear. 

"So, Yunie's getting married," she told the empty space. "I _know_, big shocker for you there, since you didn't even know she was dating. Well, actually, she was on her first date with Baralai when I saw you last. Sort of saw you."

She shuffled on her feet, glancing around her. At this hour, no one else was there to either mourn or chat up a loved one. Rikku would have felt a little strange chatting up the thin air if there had been, but then it wasn't like people's spirits appeared here for real, right? It was just pyreflies that people talked to anyway.

"Yeah, Yunie and Baralai. I knew from the moment we first met him… well, I didn't _know_ know, since we were looking for you, kinda, but she got this look, and her face got all red, and—" Rikku paused, then cocked her head. "Oh, maybe you don't want to hear about this. Yunie is pretty closed mouth about the details, but I know that you and her… well, heck, we were searching high and low for you for a year, right? You were pretty special to Yunie…"

She looked at her feet. "You were special to all of us."

Rikku leaned upon the railing, looking out. "I really miss you, you know that? So much has happened to me… I know I told you that when I _told_ you that, but it's still true, and I wish you were still here to talk to about it all. I can't talk to Yunie anymore… well I _can_ tell Yunie, but now instead of listening she is _sort__of_ listening while thinking about New Yevon while thinking about the wedding while thinking about Baralai… like if I were to talk to you before an important blitzball game, times a thousand or something."

She leaned her cheek on a fist. "And I can't talk to Paine, although she's _way_ better than she used to be. But she wasn't with us on Yunie's pilgrimage, so there's some things that she just wouldn't understand. Well, not about the stuff that's happening now, she's around for that… mostly, when she's not off working with the dreaded Leblanc — Leblanc was kind of our arch-enemy for a while. That's pretty cool, having an arch-enemy. Well, not like a Seymour-type arch-enemy… he was way more scary than cool. Leblanc, she was more annoying than scary. Of course, when Yunie had to give Leblanc a massage, I guess that was scary… wait, what was I talking about again?"

Rikku stood back up straight at waved her arms at the open space beyond the railing. "See? I get all confused when I'm talking to you but aren't talking _with_ you. Why did you have to go and—" her voice caught unexpectedly on her. "—and, and, disappear on me?" She took the end of her scarf in her hands, running one thumb over the fabric, remembering when Tidus had done the same. Almost Tidus.

"You just had to dive off the Fahrenheit and disappear. No warning or anything." Her voice was very small. "Couldn't you have told me the truth? That you were just a dream? Prepared me just a little?" She rolled her head back and looked up at the ceiling or sky or whatever passed for _up_ here in the land of the sent. "No, maybe you couldn't. There's been this big hole in the world, in my world, ever since you've gone. If I knew it was coming, had just an inkling of how hard it would be to face every day… maybe I wouldn't have wanted to defeat Sin so badly. You couldn't know how much it hurt me to lose you Tidus, but beating Sin was the right thing to do, and that's what you always wanted, to do the right thing."

She closed her eyes. "I just wish I could talk to you again, even just for a little while. I'd even take a little more of what the Fayth gave me, knowing it wasn't really real. Just to open my eyes and find you there… how I wish… I wish I wish I wish…"

And she opened her eyes. But he wasn't there. He was unsent.

* * *

Paine could hear the distant rumble of thunder as she emerged from the former inn at the bottom of Guadosalam. The Sphere Appraiser had agreed to pass on word that there was a buyer available for old sphere recorders. She still didn't know why she was taking this Sphere Museum consultant thing so seriously, but after six months of doing it she no longer worried about the why. It was just an interesting hobby, that was all. And in the name of business, Leblanc was doing an excellent job of becoming a serious sphere historian. 

Paine still wasn't sure that she could admit to liking Leblanc, but actively _disliking_ her was becoming harder to justify.

Anyway, with Yuna gone, a lot of the wind had gone out of Gullwing's sails with her. Before Yuna had joined, the search for spheres had been new and exciting. The Praetor né Summoner had brought a new purpose, and one that had unraveled the mysteries of Paine's past as well with the defeat of Shuyin. So she supposed that now she was seeking something new that felt as fulfilling, and in a way the Sphere Museum could be that. It was attempting to finish what The Seekers had started before Trema had stolen their treasure and descended beneath Bevelle: discover and reveal Spira's past. The Gullwings had pursued the discover part, as had New Yevon and the Youth League, before each had moved on. Now the Sphere Museum could complete the reveal part. Paine liked being part of that.

As she headed back up the tree to the mansion, from the corner of her eye she saw Rikku heading towards the upper levels of the city. At this time of night? She couldn't help but be curious. After ascending Guadosalam's twisted trunk, Paine saw the little Al Bhed slip through the entrance and into the Farplane chamber. Now she was _very_ curious: Rikku had expressed dislike for few things more so than the Farplane.

Still not close enough to shout and catch her attention, and unwilling to do so at so late an hour, Paine kept following. She passed through the doorway and towards the Farplane chamber herself. It was quiet and deserted at this time of night. She walked the passage and headed towards the stairs.

"Warrior," came a small voice from behind her. Paine froze, hand slipping easily to the hilt of her sword. She turned efficiently about to face a diminutive figure a short distance behind her. Her eyes darted about to see where he might have been hidden, as she'd heard no footsteps before he'd spoken, but she could see nothing that might have concealed the small boy whose helmet-like hat concealed his eyes.

"You've nothing to fear from me, Paine," he said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Fear, no. But I'm curious how you know my name."

"You may not have quite the fame of the High Summoner or the Al Bhed princess," he spread his hands, "but surely much of Spira knows you."

"Knows _of_ me, perhaps," Paine's hand didn't leave the sword hilt, "but doesn't know me. And I don't know you."

"Indeed," a small grin touched the boy's lips. "But you know _of_ me. I am a Fayth."

Paine blinked at him, then tilted her head, eyes flicking over him head to toe. "Is that so?"

The Fayth tilted his head back just slightly. Paine still couldn't quite see his eyes, but could interpret his expression as one of resigned irritation. "Consider my size deceiving," he said.

"I'd have to," she countered.

He shook his head and sighed. "Gullwings," he grumbled to himself.

"Is there something you wanted?" Paine asked. "I—"

"You're here to look after your friend," the Fayth finished her thought. "Which is why I approached you."

The warrior frowned. "What do you know of Rikku?"

"As I said, the Al Bhed princess is quite famous in Spira," his lips twitched to their enigmatic smile. "But also, we've met."

"A Fayth?" Paine snorted. "She would have told me."

He spread his hands. "Open as she is, even Rikku has things she doesn't share. Sometimes even with herself."

She turned her head to look up the stairs, brow furrowed, considering.

"Shall I show you?" the Fayth asked.

Paine only nodded in reply. The Fayth walked past her and turned, offering his hand. With great hesitation, the warrior took it, and they ascended to the chamber above.

Rikku was alone in the cavernous room, directly ahead, her back to them. She bounced on the balls of her feet, and chattered away in half a conversation. Paine looked about nervously. "I don't want—"

The boy's voice was comforting. "She can't hear or see you. We don't want to interrupt her."

Paine was skeptical, but as the Fayth drew her forward Rikku turned their way, still talking, then away again. She took no notice of them.

The warrior relaxed slightly, then frowned. She hadn't spent much time here herself. She was almost afraid to, fearing that if she came and allowed herself the slightest thought of the trauma with the Crimson Squad that the space beyond the rail would crowd to overflowing with pyrefly images of the men she'd known. But now as she focused on Rikku, Paine realized there was no one at all in the space before the Al Bhed.

"Who is she talking to?" she asked the Fayth.

His voice was almost sad. "The one she loves."

"Loves?"

"This would be her dilemma. She feels her days with the Gullwings are numbered. The High Summoner has found a place in New Yevon and one to stand by her side." He looked at Paine. "You have wrestled your demons and now seek a new purpose of your own. One that doesn't involve flying about Spira in an airship."

He turned back to look at the oblivious Rikku. "While she sees a future planned out for her by her father. She wrestles with it, with her duty, fearful that — as it has for her father — it would leave her always alone, never to find someone to love."

Again Paine snorted. "Someone to love? Ridiculous. Have you seen her?"

A barely perceptible grin. "Could I miss her?"

"Exactly. She's brighter than the sun. Men from around Spira would line up for Rikku. She could have anyone she wanted."

Again his tone played a note of sadness. "Therein lies the problem. She wants the one she cannot have."

The warrior puzzled, then she thought back to an afternoon beneath Bevelle, a conversation in the Gaol. After a moment Paine nodded in realization. "Tidus."

"You see what she does not. Or _will_ not."

Paine chuckled. "She can be dense."

"Indeed."

The warrior watched her friend forlornly for a moment or two. "But what can be done? We searched every clue we could find, all over Spira. We spent a year or more searching for some sign of Tidus, but never found any true leads."

"They exist, buried deep and strewn wide," he answered. Then the Fayth's voice turned grave. "But many, so many, have been scattered to the winds. Yet…"

He paused long enough for Paine to turn a puzzled look on him.

"…they can be caught."

The warrior frowned. "Leads?" He nodded. "Spheres?" she cocked her head.

"Yes."

"What do you mean, scattered?"

He spread his hands. "Just as I said."

"But—" she started, then stopped as a thought hit her. "You mean Via Infinito, don't you?"

The Fayth smiled just slightly.

"We can recreate those spheres? The ones that Trema destroyed?"

He nodded once more.

"How?"

"I do not have all the answers," he shrugged, "I simply know that memories such as those are never truly lost. Memories and dreams can be eternal."

Paine looked then to her friend before them, the little thief still chattering away to the empty chamber. "And what can I do to help Rikku?"

The Fayth reached out to take the warrior's hand, and she looked down at his upturned face. "Remind her that a dream needs a dreamer."

* * *

"How many levels have we come down?" Shinra asked, his voice a little strained and squeaky. 

Paine's eyes never stopped their sweep of the corridor, constantly on the lookout for fiends. "Thirty seven."

"And how many levels are there again?" he asked with a swallow.

"One hundred," Rikku answered, sympathy thick in her voice. She thought the boy's goggles seemed a little fogged. He must be sweating heavily behind them.

"Terrific."

A strong hand squeezed the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "I think we can probably make this the last level for today," Nooj told him, "don't you think guys?"

The party of warriors, nearly a score of New Yevon's and the Youth League's finest, sent mostly grateful glances the Meyvn's way. Only Ormi raised a nervous protest.

"I think the boss was hoping we'd get to level forty…"

Logos turned a withering stare on his longtime partner. "I think the boss should be down here if she wants to give orders."

Nooj hid his grin, but was proud of the lanky man's newfound gumption — albeit _not_ displayed in front of Leblanc. Paine walked by the two and gave the rounder flunky a friendly nudge of reassurance. The Meyvn guessed that the cynical warrior's attitude was starting to rub off on Leblanc's cohorts since she had spent so much time with them in the last few months.

The Youth League leader did his own visual sweep of the motley party that was the main force of what he'd taken to calling The Bevelle Project. Paine teased him that rather becoming a ship's captain, he'd ended up a civil engineer, his desk at Youth League headquarters stacked with files labeled Calm Lands Venture and Macalania Lake Revitalization Proposal. But all in all, he didn't really mind; for one who'd been a Deathseeker, Nooj marveled that he now spent so much time thinking about the future.

Paine had developed this idea herself: locate pyreflies that had been part of a destroyed sphere, trap them, and recreate the spheres. She had worked with Shinra and Rikku to build a machine that could do that, and then approached Nooj about assembling a team that could bring the device to the place it could be most effective: Via Infinito.

The party he looked over now included Paine, Rikku and Shinra from the Gullwings, Logos and Ormi from the Sphere Museum, Baralai and a team of New Yevon guards, a smattering of Al Bhed from the Machine Faction, and Elma, himself, and a half-dozen soldiers from the Youth League. In support on the surface were Leblanc, Yuna, Brother, and Gippal, processing their finds and tending the wounded… although Nooj knew for a fact that Brother was spending a great deal of his energy keeping Gippal away from Yuna. Not that Gippal minded; he was fine spending his time flirting with Leblanc.

"I'm getting more and more impressed," Nooj's voice snagged the gray-haired warrior as she passed him, walking a perimeter.

Paine raised an eyebrow at him in response, the model of suspicious curiosity.

"Hardened Crusaders I've fought alongside since Sin nearly panicked and bolted when we started this two days ago, and that was on the uppermost levels," he said.

"They weren't that frightened," she shrugged.

"That's charitable of you," Nooj smiled. "But yes they were. And yet you, Yuna, and Rikku made it all the way to the bottom."

"_And_ defeated Trema," Rikku said in a drive-by. "He was worse than Vegnagun!"

Paine frowned after her. "He was not."

The Meyvn grinned slightly. "I believe _her_."

The gray-haired warrior just shrugged, looking at Rikku, now standing by Shinra. The thief winked at her, and Paine rolled her eyes.

"Not bad for Spira's most famous recorder," Nooj teased, and Paine sent him a look that would melt rocks, but couldn't maintain it for sharing his smile.

Rikku knelt down by the Gullwings boy-wonder and peered at the viewscreen of his latest contraption from over his shoulder. "How's it going?" she asked.

"I'm not having much luck identifying pyreflies with sphere-residuum here."

"Are you sure you have the high-pass filter set right?"

Shinra turned his featureless goggle-gaze on her, but said nothing.

She pointed at the screen defensively. "Hey, we're not even completely sure what constitutes the complete signature of 'sphere-residuum', so don't give me that look. You're new at this too."

The boy shrugged. "We did plenty of experiments."

"Not on thousand-year-old spheres we didn't," she answered. "Leblanc would kill us if we destroyed a really old sphere just to analyze the radiological footprint of the pyreflies it gave off."

He sighed. "I'll play with the settings more."

The little thief stood up, but patted the boy's shoulder. "Better than having to come down here again, right?" She could feel him shudder through her touch. "That's what I thought."

There was suddenly yelling from beyond where the corridor curved out of sight to her left. Rikku grabbed the daggers from off each hip and took off after the sound, skidding around the corner to find Baralai and half a dozen soldiers pinned down by an Elder Drake.

"Oh, man, I _hate_ these things!" the Al Bhed said, searching her garment grid for her Dark Knight dressphere. "_Paine!_" she yelled loudly over her shoulder, securing her daggers and getting mentally prepared for the sphere-change. "Stop flirting and get your butt over here!"

She knew she'd pay dearly for that later, but couldn't help herself.


	5. Chapter 5

Rikku was aching in too many places to count and felt badly in need of a shower. She had obviously blocked out how hard and how scary the Bevelle Underground had been to traverse the first time, or she wouldn't have agreed to do it again. She slouched her way off the teleport disk and just stood there, off to the side, head down, as more of her fellow explorers blinked into existence from below.

She heard Yuna's motherly cluckings as wounded soldiers were helped to a little makeshift triage area where she checked them over and decided onwhom to perform simple healings and who should be sent to the Temple's clinic proper. Brother came racing over to where Rikku stood when he saw the gore on her torso, but she sent him away again with a slightly short response that the blood wasn't hers. She knew he didn't deserve her ire, but was too tired to be particularly civil.

She at last gathered the energy to move upon seeing Paine and Nooj appear together on the platform, body language eminently comfortable, the Youth League Meyvn finishing a sentence he'd apparently begun many floors below. They strolled off into the gathered mass, shoulders together, heads close to converse through the noise around them. Leblanc did _not_ materialize at their side with a "Noojy-woojy", and Rikku's eyes soon located the reason: Gippal the Player, flirting easily and openly with her at the side of the transport chamber. A wave of loneliness hit the little thief hard, and drawing a deeply frustrated breath she headed for the door, not even wanting to talk to anyone else, just ready to head back to the Celsius.

Then she stopped, seeing Shinra in the corner of the room, his back to the wall, blond head tilted back, eyes on the ceiling. He had removed his mask. He sat behind his instruments and a small case of spheres, but looked at neither. Sighing, she drifted over and plopped down beside him.

"You worn out too?" Rikku asked.

He cocked his head, not really looking at her. "It's very stressful down there."

"Tell me about it," she snorted. "Try it with a weapon in your hand."

"I'd rather not," he answered, voice slow and tired. "I'm just a kid."

She leaned her head back against the wall in the same fashion as Shinra. "Wish I could still say that."

From the corner of her eye, Rikku saw him turn his eyes towards her. "No you don't."

"I don't?" she returned, dry amusement in her voice.

"No… you've never been a kid."

The little thief leaned her head forward from the wall once more, turning to meet Shinra's green eyes.

"You've always been Cid's daughter," he said. "Our princess. When we were alone and hated by Yevon, _and_ still chased by Sin, you were out front, scavenging airships and rescuing summoners. Then you joined up with Yuna and helped defeat Sin for good, for ever." He dropped his eyes. "I get to be a kid because you never got to be one."

Rikku felt her eyes moisten, and blinked rapidly to keep her cheeks dry. "So why do you try so hard to _not_ be one?" she asked, her voice small. "Joining the Gullwings of all things."

He smiled softly. "Because you can rebuild an airship engine by yourself, _and_ beat Vegnagun, _and_ build a sphere re-creator, _and_ make it to the bottom of Via Infinito," Shinra said. "I joined the Gullwings because you're kinda my hero."

Rikku lost the battle against her tears, but the boy genius beside her was kind enough not to say anything. She looked back forward, and covered a surreptitious wiping of her eyes by reaching for one of the spheres in Shinra's case. "Are these today's?" she asked, clearing her throat.

"Yes. The new settings are working well."

She focused on the sphere she had selected. In between bursts of static she could see what looked like a meeting of soldiers in a room full of maps. "I wish Maechen was still here to see these."

"He was probably _there_ to see them," Shinra smiled.

"There are some new scholars taking up his mantle within New Yevon," Rikku lifted her eyes to see Baralai. He squatted down beside her and picked up a sphere of his own, gazing into it. "Now that you two have helped us find them," he said, "these memories won't be lost, or hidden, again."

"I have a feeling that Yuna will keep you on the straight and narrow with _that_ promise," the little thief answered.

"Not that she'd need to," he gave her a typically quiet Baralai-smile, "but I know you're right." He set the sphere in his hand down once more. "We're having a party for the crew," the Chairman gestured at the group around them, "in the residence later. Along with a mini-unveiling for a reporter at SphereNet. You should be there."

Rikku sighed, aware of the ache in her bones, and her heart, and not feeling like celebrating at all.

"I'm always up for a party," she lied.

* * *

Rikku almost fell asleep in the shower. She wanted nothing more than to curl up on her bed and sleep right through the end of the project so she wouldn't have to go down into Via Infinito again. It wasn't so much that it was scary — well, there _was_ a certain amount of dread about facing one of those oversized pickles with tails — the Giant Tonberry's — again. But no, there was something else hanging over her head that made it worse this time: an empty, uncertain future. 

Everything she'd done in the Gullwings back when Yuna had been with them had been with a purpose. Whatever dangers they were heading into, whatever great unknowns, they would all still be together for them. But now…

Rikku felt like this was all that was going through her mind lately. Yuna's imminent wedding, and Paine's increasing devotion to the Sphere Museum, both hung about her like a Bikanel sandstorm blotting out the sun. All she could do was guess which direction was the brighter and head that way.

She turned off the water and stepped from the shower, pulling her towel from the rack and rubbing it across her skin, her movements lethargic. "Cheer up, Rikku," she said to herself. "It's a party. You like parties."

She slipped her robe over her shoulders and slid open the door to the closet that housed all her clothes, clicking on the light. The little thief blinked as she looked over the shelves. Limited as space was on the airship, she used to share this closet with Yuna and Paine, just as they shared the loft above the cabin for their beds. Not so long ago, these racks and shelves had been full. Now they were half-empty.

At first it had been a struggle with funds, having to choose whether to buy potions or antidotes. Later, she and Yuna had made it an inside joke, arguing over money, when they had more than enough to buy not just supplies, but go on shopping sprees. They always made Paine their foil: "Paine will never let me buy this dress!" or "Paine will kill us if we waste gil on perfume and not weapons!" They did so even when she was around, at which time she'd just glower or shake her head at them.

They did so even when this closet was full of the latest fashions Luca or Bevelle could offer. Shinra once looked into the wardrobe and pondered aloud why they didn't just use the dress-spheres for changes of clothes and save the closet space for something useful. He was pelted with so many things had to run from the room, all the while declaring that he'd never understand women.

Rikku sighed and shuffled her bare feet as she pushed through the hangers one by one. It was a party, but it was also a party at the Bevelle Temple. It couldn't be formal, could it? She hated formal parties. She thought Yuna hated formal parties, but Baralai seemed like the formal party type. Not like—

She swallowed hard and picked out a fun little outfit. Maybe she wouldn't have to stay very long.

* * *

"The Residence", as Baralai had called it, was the living quarters for the Chairman in the Temple. Formerly housing the Grand Maester and all his staff, it occupied several floors in one wing of the massive complex and though Rikku had visited Yuna there several times, she always felt one wrong turn away from getting hopelessly lost. Several priests gave slightly disapproving looks to her party attire as she made her way through the Temple, but refrained from commenting out of respect, she assumed, for her friendship with their boss. Or maybe it was because they knew she'd saved their butts multiple times. Either way, she arrived at the party in an irritable mood. 

Paine grabbed her elbow as she entered the Residence common room, decked with bright, multicolored lamps, streamers and balloons. "Thank Yevon you're finally here," the warrior yelled into her ear over the loud music of a band at the room's far end. "Buddy and Brother are driving me crazy."

"What, no Noojy-Woojy to protect you?" Rikku laughed.

Paine both raised an eyebrow and narrowed her gaze, which the little thief considered quite a feat.

"Hey," Rikku said, "Brother'll drive anyone crazy and Buddy's got a little crush on you." She shrugged. "Between Baralai and Nooj both their hearts are a little broken."

"Well now that you're here they can wallow without involving me."

Rikku frowned at her. "Gee, thanks."

"No," Paine shook her head, "I meant I can hang out with you instead of them."

"Until Nooj shows up."

The warrior put an arm around Rikku's shoulders and physically and turned the Al Bhed ninety degrees. The perennially dour Meyvn was standing across the room, talking with the considerably shorter New Yevon Chairman.

"I wanted to hang out with _you_," she said. "That's okay, isn't it?"

Rikku wheeled on her friend and threw her arms around her. Paine accepted the hug limply and with a roll of her crimson eyes. Before she could resist, the thief grabbed Paine's hand and dragged her to the makeshift dance floor before the band.

"Where's Yunie?" the little thief yelled over the music.

"Probably still in the infirmary, checking on the wounded."

"How_did_ we make it to the bottom without getting killed, just the three of us?" she raised her hands.

Paine grinned slyly. "Well, _I_ made it because I was with two experienced world-savers," she said, then executed a little spin move that got a _whoop_ from the Gullwings across the room. She deigned a wave and a wink to them.

"Ugh, you know I hate that," Rikku frowned.

"What,_I'm_ not allowed to tease?" the warrior raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know you are," she answered, "it's just that… oh, never mind."

Paine paused in her dancing, making Rikku look at her. "What is it? Why have you been so down lately? And by lately I mean months and months."

"Let's just dance, okay?" Rikku pleaded, and Paine relented for a little bit. Brother chose that moment to slide onto the dance floor and provide an amusing distraction. He had Yuna, of all people, in tow.

"Did I miss anything?" Yuna asked the others.

"Only my spectacular break dancing routine," Brother answered in their stead, "which I am going to demonstrate to you now!" Which he did, as others on the dance floor moved away from him in trepidation.

Paine watched for a few moments in amused awe, then noticed Rikku had slipped off the dance floor. Scanning the room, she spotted her once more by the food table. She excused herself from Yuna, and approached the little thief from behind with some stealth of her own. "So when exactly did you stop liking being reminded that you're a hero?" she asked as she arrived.

Rikku, back to the warrior and until that moment entirely involved in whether she wanted the mustard or mayo potato salad, let her head sink until her chin nearly reached her chest. "Not getting out of this, am I?"

Paine reached around her and scooped the mustard salad into the empty spot on the Al Bhed's plate, then took her hand and led her to one of the brightly decorated tables near the hall's side, far enough away from the music that they didn't have to yell to be heard. "Eat, talk, or eat then talk," she said, "I'm waiting here with you regardless."

The younger woman ate a forkful of roast…_something_ while she gathered her thoughts. She pondered, occasionally looking up at Paine, each time finding the warrior regarding her with a patient gaze. "That's freaking me out, you know."

Paine merely crooked an eyebrow, but said nothing and continued to wait and watch.

Rikku finally sighed heavily and met the crimson eyes, lifting a glass of punch to wet her lips . "When you think of the future of the Al Bhed, like _future_ future, after-Pops future, who do you see leading us?"

The warrior didn't bat an eye. "You," she answered.

The thief's jaw dropped, as did the glass from her nerveless fingers. Paine snagged the cup before it hit the table, then took a sip herself.

"Uhm, what?" Rikku asked.

"I see _you_, Rikku, leading the Al Bhed," Paine cocked her head, looking at her friend askance. "Why would I see anyone else?"

The blonde's mouth worked but no sound emerged.

"Is that your fish imitation?"

Rikku frowned and swatted at her friend. "No! I just… I just— _me_?"

Paine set Rikku's cup on the table, then laid her hand over the thief's. "Is this what your father told you? This is what you've been upset about?"

The Al Bhed lowered her eyes. "I don't get it. How can the two of you see it, and I don't? I'm no leader."

Suddenly Rikku felt a hand on her shoulder, and Buddy's amused voice from behind her. "You don't think we actually follow _Brother_, do you?"

She hopped from her chair, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Hi guys!" she said to Buddy, Shinra, and the just-arriving Brother. "No more dancing?"

"Yuna got snagged to talk by Baralai and Nooj," Shinra said, "and Brother needs an audience for his dancing."

"I got hungry," the mohawked Al Bhed answered, brandishing the plate in his hand. He sat beside Paine, and gestured back at his fellow male crewmates. "Go get food."

The other two shrugged and headed for the chow line.

"What are we discussing?" Brother asked the women, then shoved a huge spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"The future," Paine answered.

"The future of what?" he responded, not bothering to swallow first.

Rikku cuffed him on the back of the head, sitting back down. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Quit," he answered, "you'll give me stomachache."

The little thief rolled her eyes. "Eating too fast gives you a stomachache, you dork."

Brother swallowed exaggeratedly. "So, the future of what?"

The shortest Celcius crewman bounded back up to the table at that moment, displaying a small plate piled high with shimmery blue goodness.

"Barkeep brought some of his Sweet Flan," Shinra said in what was as close to an excited tone as Rikku had heard since he'd beaten her in the sphere break tournament in Luca. He nodded back at the food table, where the Celcius' gangly blue bartender was fussing over a table full of desserts.

"That's all you're eating?" Paine frowned at him.

"What're you, my mother?" Shinra frowned back. Then stepped back from the table at the look Paine fired at him, and moved to sit on the other side of Brother from her.

"Living dangerously, little man," Brother leaned in to tell the boy genius. Shinra mocked flicking a spoonful of dessert at him.

Buddy completed the circle at the table, between Rikku and Paine, setting his full plate on the table and carefully laying a napkin across his lap.

"So what are we talking about?" he asked, digging up a forkful.

"The future," Brother answered.

Shinra raised his head, mouth full of Sweet Flan. "The future of what?"

Paine smiled slightly, eyes on Rikku. "The Al Bhed."

The others fell silent, and began looking back and forth from the warrior to the thief. The two weren't talking, but clearly something was hanging in the air between them.

"Is this about Cid?" Shinra finally spoke. "I hear he hasn't given up his quest to rebuild Home."

"Father? Give up?" Brother rolled his eyes. "Never."

"Yeah," Buddy agreed, "not his style."

"He, uhm," Rikku said, "even tried to get the help of the Guado."

"The Guado?!" Brother exclaimed, startled.

"Wow," Buddy shook his head, fork poised before his mouth. "That takes guts."

"Guts?" Brother spat. "It's ridiculous!"

Rikku stared at her brother. Her voice was tight. "Do you have any idea," she said, "what it was like for him to do that? How much of his pride and anger he had to swallow? Just to hear them whine that they were 'too weak and fragile' to help?"

Shinra had set his spoon down on the table, and was staring straight ahead. "I remember it was such a normal day. My mom was worried that all the summoner raids… that Yevon was going to track us down and punish us for it. I heard her talking with my dad about it, but he said we were safe in Home. I… it was the only place I knew, so it really didn't make sense to me; I was just worried that my mom wouldn't let me play outside, and was happy that my dad talked her into it."

The others had fallen silent, looking at the boy.

"I was outside Home with my best friends Fylo and Merrin. They wanted to sneak off to the Cactuar Nation but we knew we weren't allowed anywhere near that far. We'd gone as far as the sandragora pits when we started to hear this sound…"

Rikku laid her hand on the boy's shoulder, rubbing gently.

"…it was gunfire and fiends and screaming. I'd heard them all before, even though I'd only ever been a stone's throw from Home. But this was so loud and jumbled that—"

"It was like some new sound altogether," Brother finished for him.

Shinra paused, as if having trouble forming the words. "I… we, we tried to get back… back inside, but… that whole wing of Home was on fire and… Fylo ran inside anyway, crawling over some fallen debris and—"

His eyes blinked, and he looked up at Rikku then. "Cid was the one who took my hand. I'd lost track of Merrin when we tried to follow Fylo. Cid took my hand and led me to the airship." His small hand lifted from the table, starting to raise towards Rikku's face. "I'll never forget his eyes. How he knew everything I was feeling just then, and yet, what had to be done."

Rikku took his reaching hand in hers and just held it gently. She took a breath, then turned back to the others. "Pops got the Al Bhed back together after Yevon had scattered us to the winds," she said. "He believes that we're still better off together, with some place to call our own, than left divided like the Guado left us."

Paine took another sip of Rikku's punch. "So the question is," she said, "do the rest of the Al Bhed believe that?"

"That's the question."

Buddy shrugged. "I don't think that the Machine Faction does."

"Well they're an outreach group," Paine countered.

"But they have influence," Shrinra piped up, back eating his flan.

"Sure," Rikku said, "but I don't think they'd campaign _against_ rebuilding Home."

"Right," he looked back at her, "except to Cid. I saw that conversation Cid had with Nhadala and Rin at the hot springs, same as you did. Both feel the Al Bhed are better off reintegrated with the rest of Spira. And Rin wants to build his own home."

"Yeah," the little thief sighed. "I know. It was discouraging. Plus whomever he visits for help, Pops can't get anything very positive."

"And he still battles on," Buddy said. "That's leadership."

"It would be if anyone listened," Brother answered.

"Still," Buddy said, "we've survived. All in one place like that, the Guado could have made us the next Zanarkand."

Rikku pushed her plate away and stood. "I need some air," she mumbled in apology, then hurried across the room to an archway that led to a balcony overlooking Bevelle.

The others looked after her, surprise on their faces, then exchanged looks with one another. Nearly as one they stood and moved to follow. With a glance Paine had the boys hang back just a bit. Yuna intercepted the warrior as she crossed the chamber.

"Everything okay?" the Praetor asked.

"Sure," Paine replied, hand on Yuna's arm. "She'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

Yuna frowned, but let the gray-haired woman follow her cousin without another word.

The sounds of the party were muted on the balcony, and Paine had to pause a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She saw Rikku's silhouette against the brighter sky beyond, and stepped to her, leaning her arms on the stone wall that surrounded the terrace.

"It's a beautiful night," she said, looking up through the clear sky into the dome of stars.

"It is," Rikku answered, but her voice was small.

"So many lights in Bevelle, reflecting off the water," the warrior marveled, "they rival the sky." She half-turned her head, watching her friend. "It's like pyreflies in Zanarkand."

Rikku clenched shut her eyes, and raised a hand to cover her mouth, holding back a terrible anguish before it spilled forth.

Paine turned whole to face her, and took the small shoulders in her hands. "Look at me, Rikku," she asked, then nearly gasped at the shimmering sorrow revealed in the princess' eyes. "It's not just this thing with Cid that's been on your mind, is it?"

"Please, Paine," the younger girl begged, "just leave it alone."

The warrior looked at Rikku, and she ached to tell her of the Fayth's visit. She felt miserable seeing her friend so sad, but knew it would be worse to give the girl a false hope if the Project didn't succeed. Best to help her where she could, and keep working on gathering clues from pyreflies. She nodded just slightly, and lowered her forehead to Rikku's.

The little thief gave her a watery smile.

"So," Paine said, drawing away, her voice carrying back towards the balcony entrance. "One thing this view isn't is dry."

"That's for sure," Buddy answered, coming out onto the terrace with the others at the warrior's hint. "Never hear all those waterfalls out on Bikanel."

"Sure don't," Shinra added, coming to the short stone wall and having to pull himself up to see over it. "Lots more wind, lots less water."

"The question is," the Celcius' navigator began, turning towards where the girls were standing.

Rikku finished for him. "Do I really want to live in the desert again?"

"Does anybody?" Paine asked.

"I am _for_ the desert living!" Brother slapped a palm onto his chest.

Rikku frowned at him. "You're the one that wanted to fly around Spira in an airship!"

"That was Buddy," he responded.

The darker-skinned Al Bhed clapped Brother on the shoulder. "That was you."

"This is not the point," Brother replied. "I miss the desert."

"You miss sand in your bed?" Rikku asked. "You miss Pops?"

He looked a little forlorn. "I miss Home." He hung his head. "Yuna is not coming back, and I want to go Home."

Silence fell upon the group. But for Paine, each of them had a hole in their lives made by that tragedy. One they rarely exposed, even to themselves.

"So how do we _get_ Home?" Shinra asked at last.

"We don't, anytime soon," Buddy shrugged.

"Hey, poopyhead," Rikku chided, "that's not very positive."

Paine's lips couldn't help but twitch to a smile. "He has a point though."

"The likelihood _is_ remote," Brother hung his head.

Buddy put a hand on his friend's shoulder once again. "It is with Cid in charge," he sighed.

"Hey!" Rikku snapped angrily. "Weren't you just saying he was a good leader?"

The navigator raised his hand in defense. "I _do_ think he's a good leader. Actually I've always thought that." He gave a sidelong glance at Brother, expecting a reaction but not getting one. "It's just…"

"He hasn't succeeded so far," Brother sighed.

Paine looked over the others. "The problem is," she said slowly, pointedly, "at this point he sounds like a broken sphere, just repeating the same thing to every one he meets, over and over. No one listens."

Shinra cocked his head, looking at her. He smiled at her meaning. "Yeah, I think we need someone new saying it, maybe in a different way."

"With a different attitude," Buddy nodded.

All the heads in the group swiveled to look at Rikku. Her eyes went very wide.

"Uhm… mmm— me?"

"You," Shinra said. "It makes perfect sense."

"How?"

Buddy smiled. "Because you're not Cid, but other Al Bhed will give you the same respect, because of who you are."

"You're like our Yuna," Shinra nodded.

Rikku put her hands to her head, shaking it side to side. "But… but I'm not a leader like Yunie! She's all organized, and wise, and dedicated…. Me, I'm a total mess!"

"Rikku!" Brother took his sister by the shoulders. "Oui yna hudrehk mega Yuna, pid oui'na zicd fryd fa haat." _You are nothing like Yuna, but you're just what we need._

"Yeah," Buddy added, giving her a wink. "Headstrong and annoying. Perfect for us."

Paine watched her friend closely as her fellow Al Bhed expressed their support. She saw her eyes move from wide with terror to round with wonder to crinkling at the edges from happiness, with perhaps just a hint of tears in joy.

She felt her own bit of wonder as she watched. That was her Rikku, ever her Rikku, but still… that sheen, that mask of the fun-loving girl was fading now, and from deep inside had blossomed that wonderful heart, that soul of a leader, the Al Bhed's princess.

And the Bevelle Project seemed all the more important now, that they might find the one who could truly hold the princess' heart within his own.

* * *

Just inside the common room from the terrace, Yuna stood, out of sight, but listening. The look on her cousin's face as she'd passed, along with Paine's brusque dismissal, made her feel so out of touch suddenly. The Gullwings had been her life for the better part of two years, and yet, as she watched them cross the floor, then head out onto the balcony to comfort Rikku, she suddenly realized how little time her life in Bevelle had left her for anything else… including keeping up with the lives of her very best friends. 

She looked around the room at the partygoers. Yuna had met many of these people before, during her travels with the Gullwings. It had been such a happy time for her, but so often she'd felt terribly guilty._Of course_ it should have been enough, as Rikku had often said, that she'd defeated Sin. How much was one person supposed to give, right?

But maybe that was it. She'd expected, from the moment she'd decided to follow in her father's footsteps, that what she'd give was her life. So when she hadn't… well, that two years she'd spent, people lining up to speak with her, get her opinions, partake of her wisdom… that time had been overwhelming, but it had also been… familiar.

She just hadn't been ready for it. Not then.

At the time she joined the Gullwings, Yuna had thought she was looking for Tidus. Thought that he was that part of her life that, having been ripped away, was what was missing.

He wasn't.

What was missing was her purpose. Her time with the Gullwings showed her that she had the need to help people. It's what made her happy. But not by sitting in Besaid and hearing petitions and giving out advice.

Being in the Gullwings had led her to these people, these partygoers before her. Warriors, leaders, scholars… people who went out of their way to help others, to make their lives better. Now, she was one of them.

Yuna turned her head as she saw Baralai coming her way. This man, this leader… he had taken in his grasp the reins of Spira's greatest institution, merely because so many still looked to its shattered husk for guidance and the men who tried to run it before him had fallen to the corruption of its seductive power. He saw what needed to be done and he did it, not for personal gain, but for the good of others.

It was something very familiar to her. Coming to him had been like coming home.

"Hey," Baralai said as he arrived, lifting a hand to touch her arm.

"Hey," she smiled at him.

"What are you doing over here, all by yourself?" he asked.

Yuna gestured towards the balcony doorway with her head. Baralai furrowed his brow and squinted through the opening to see the group gathered outside.

"Everything okay?" he asked his fiancée.

The Praetor glanced back over her shoulder and out the doorway again herself. "They're trying to solve an old problem," she answered. "One I think they've been avoiding for a long time."

"Can I help?" he asked.

Her eyes scanned the room. "No," she said, once she'd spotted her target. She turned back to Baralai and smiled, then kissed him. "But thanks."

Of course he'd asked. It's what they did. It's why she loved him.

Yuna pushed off the wall where she'd been leaning and headed across the crowded common room for the food tables along its side, just outside the kitchen.

"Mish Yuna, what can I do for you?"

"Barkeep, can I talk to you for a minute?" She glanced around the chamber. "Maybe in the back room?"

"Of coursh," the Hypello answered, and turned to shuffle towards the kitchen.

Yuna glanced back towards the balcony before following. She smiled.

It's what made her happy.


	6. Chapter 6

Rikku spent her mornings with some of the best machina researchers in the Machine Faction, going over plans and drawings, wiring diagrams and ventilation systems. Then she spent her afternoons with the foremen telling her why none of the plans she'd given them would ever work. It wasn't long before each group found that the bubbly and sweet Al Bhed princess knew a lot more about construction than they suspected, and that talking down to her was a _not_ a good approach. Rebuilding Home was essentially _her_ project. It may have been Cid's idea, and he certainly scared them enough when he wandered through the Bikanel construction site, but it became clear through all the planning that Rikku was the boss, and she was _definitely_ her father's daughter.

Sitting in her office in the small temporary home she shared with Brother and Shinra at the edge of the site, Rikku looked over the blueprints for the residence area for the ten thousandth time, wondering for about the same-numbered time whether they were building it big enough. It was designed to be almost infinitely expandable, but having seen the latest recruitment reports detailing Al Bhed who'd committed to coming back to Home, she had to marvel at — and be worried by — their success. She shook her head, then closed her eyes and turned her face to the fan on her desk. They'd not built air conditioning into the temporary housing, preferring to save the resources for the real build, so the fan was merely blowing the hot desert air around the room. But it was better than nothing.

She opened her eyes once more at a beeping from somewhere on the surface of her desk. Rikku frowned, and began shuffling the oversized diagrams around.

"Hang on!" she said aloud. "I'm looking for you!"

She started patting the papers and finally located a hard lump. Then she resumed digging, until she'd uncovered the source: her commsphere. She hit the button to connect, and saw Paine's face fade into view.

"What took you so long?" her friend asked. "Was I buried in blueprints again?"

Rikku sighed. "Always."

"Then let me offer you a break," Paine replied. "Can you come to the Museum today? I've found something I think you should see."

The little thief rested her elbow on the desk, then propped her chin atop her fist, eyes looking far off as she thought. "Well," she said, "depends on where the airships are. If one is available I can try to reschedule my afternoon meetings and probably get to Luca by lunchtime."

"That'd be great. I—"

"Wait," Rikku suddenly held up a hand, "hang on." She turned her head. "Shinra!!"

The small voice floated in from beyond her office door. "Yes?"

"Do you have those revisions done on the elevator plans? They're gonna need those this afternoon."

"Just about finished."

"Can you take them to Rostuu yourself?" she called. "I'm gonna try to go to Luca today."

There was a pause. "I'm just a kid."

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Get over it!"

She could almost hear him sigh from here, two rooms over. "Okay, I'll bring them to him."

"Thanks!" She turned back to the commsphere. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Paine raised an eyebrow. "Well, I was going to tell you a little about what I found, but I think I'll save it 'til you get here."

The Al Bhed frowned. "That's not fair!"

"No, I think you have enough on your mind just getting untangled there to visit. I don't want to make it worse."

They locked eyes through the commsphere for a moment. "Poopeyhead," Rikku said finally.

"Sticks and stones," Paine replied. "The café near the monument?"

"Okay."

"See you at lunch."

"I'll call if I can't make it," Rikku added.

"Don't call, just make it."

"This better be good."

"You'll see," Paine answered, and clicked off.

The Al Bhed sat idly for a moment, the constantly spinning wheels of her mind clawing in all directions until she got them back on track.

"Shinra!!!" she called again.

This time she was sure she could hear the sigh from across the small house. "Yes, ma'am?" he answered again, and Rikku smiled.

* * *

Rikku lay on her old bunk in the cabin, staring up at the blue sky as clouds drifted through it and by the window above her. The engines were running hot, she could tell; she was gonna have to get on Brother again about it. She just didn't have time to keep the Celcius in top shape with all the build work, and Brother had sworn to her that he could handle it. In fact, she thought he'd hired a couple of mechanics from the Machine Faction to work in the engine room, since the airship was getting so much work these days doing materials transport for the build. She made a mental note to talk to them before they reached Luca.

Unfamiliar voices from below reached her ears, indistinct and undecipherable. The airship had been in Bikanel when she'd checked this morning, and scheduled to head to Djose. She'd pulled rank to get a ride to Luca, but that had meant she'd be dropped off and would probably have to stay the night with Paine while the Celcius kept on to the former temple. It also meant that the counter in the cabin below her was lined with both treasure hunters returning from digs in Sanubia and construction workers going home to their families, as well as engineers heading back to the workshops at Machine Faction headquarters. It was a far cry from how empty the ship had seemed mere months ago, when Rikku was spending time back in the Via Infinito. But as noble as the reason for the crowd, she wasn't sure which she liked less: an empty Celcius, or one filled with strangers.

She sat up and turned herself around on the bed so that she could look out the window. They were flying south of the direct line from Bikanel to Luca in order to avoid a storm. Rikku had a good view of the tall anvil shapes of the thunderheads from here, dark and low and lashing the sea into froth with wind and rain a ways to port. That meant Kilika Island was out in front of them, and to the starboard side of the Celsius would be… was that right?

Planting her feet on the floor, Rikku pulled open the drawer of the nightstand by her bed, and fished out the pair of binoculars she kept there. She stood and scurried down the stairway, past the curious glances of the partying passengers — with a lone wave from Darling behind the bar — and out the hallway to the elevator. The edge of the storm would make the deck too dangerous, so she punched the button for the bridge.

Half a dozen alien faces occupied the room as she entered it, most turning her way as the door parted before her. Rikku had almost gotten used to the recognition in their eyes. It was no longer one that meant "Cid's daughter", or "Yuna's guardian", nor even "Gullwing", but fell somewhere in the neighborhood of "boss" and "Princess". She still wasn't sure she'd ever like that look, but at least it wasn't "brat who diverted our airship".

Well, there _was_ one look that was more along the lines of "hot Al Bhed girl I'd like to do unmentionable things with". That was from Gippal, sitting at Shinra's old console.

"Hey, Cid's girl," the Faction leader said over his shoulder as she came down the stairs.

"What's up, Gippal?" she replied. "I thought you'd be down with everyone in the cabin. Drinking or something."

He feigned annoyance. "Is that all you think of me, Rikku?"

She shrugged. "Pretty much."

"I'm hurt."

"You'll get over it."

Gippal cocked his head, then nodded. "Yeah, I will. Hey," he held up a hand, and she paused on her path to the flight bubble. "Got a minute?"

"Sure."

The Faction leader turned the chair from his console and gestured at one of the other men on the bridge. "That's Kalcheon, he's one of our top engineers."

Rikku held in a scowl. "We've met," she said, then gave the tall goggled man a curt nod, which he returned. He was a smart engineer, but also one of the biggest pains in Rikku's behind on the build.

Gippal flicked his eyes back and forth between the two, then punched a couple of keys on Shinra's console, and a sphere image was projected of a portion of the construction diagrams of Home. "He's a little worried about this new wing that Cid has planned here," he pointed to one side of the image. "He's pointed out some structural issues that I think could be of a concern."

The little thief took a deep breath. "As I've explained to Kalcheon before," she said steadily, "this wing is balanced on the other side of Home by the agricultural areas."

"It's the metal strain he's worried about—"

"Which is why the struts here," Rikku pointed to the projection, "and here are attached to the granite bedrock. As to the distributed force, Kalcheon needs to spend some more time in the Bevelle Underground studying things bigger than this that have been working continuously for _over_ _a thousand years_ before he spouts off. Kalcheon is a smart guy, Gippal, but he needs to do his homework better."

Gippal raised the brow over his one good eye at her, pondering.

"By the way," she added. "This wing is essentially a tourist center and housing for non-Al Bhed; something _you_ should be happy about, Mr. Machine Faction Leader. This," she pointed to the image once more, "is Cid bending over backwards to include outsiders in Al Bhed affairs. The very people he rightfully protected us from for years. We are _not_ losing this area." She noticed his look then. "What?" she asked.

"I was just wondering if I should call you 'Cid's girl' less, or more," he grinned.

Rikku snorted. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."

Gippal shrugged. "Could be worse."

She cocked her head. "You know? I honestly don't mind." With a smile she turned and continued forward on the bridge.

As she proceeded down the short catwalk to the engineer's chair, Rikku lifted the binoculars still in her hand and poised them over her nose, peering out towards starboard. Behind her, Brother turned his head. "What are you looking for?"

"I was just wondering something…" she said as she scanned the open water. "Isn't this about where we found the Fahrenheit? I mean, out that way?"

Brother stretched up in his chair, looking around her. "I think so. Not too far from Baaj Temple. I think Father wants to send another salvage crew out there soon."

Baaj Temple. A salvage ship. It was exactly what she'd been thinking about up in the cabin.

About _him_.

How long had it been now, she wondered? It was two years after the Eternal Calm began when Yunie had joined the Gullwings to look for him. Nearly a year later, they'd fought Vegnagun. And it wasn't too long after that when the High Summoner had started dating the Praetor of New Yevon. Six months later she moved to the temple, and now they were getting married in just a couple of months. And so much else had happened, too! Paine had left the Gullwings for the Sphere Museum, where she was cataloging all the data they'd gathered in those months of the Bevelle Project. Now they were rebuilding Home…

As she added it all up, it came to nearly five _years_. Could it have really been that long since she'd seen him? Five years since he'd gone— unsent?

Was this her life now? Just as Pops had said it would be… rebuilding Home, running all the plans, getting all the respectful looks from the Al Bhed, being in charge of things… being Cid's successor in waiting?

And just as she'd hoped it would never be and feared it would all the same, it was all so busy, this life… and oh so lonely.

She searched still the surface of the waters beyond the window, seeing nothing, and fighting through the blur that the tears brought.

* * *

The café was as crowded as she'd seen it, as Rikku waited for her eyes to adjust from the bright town square outside to the dimness within. The Ronso Fangs — this year's Cinderella team — were blitzing against the hometown Luca Goers, and the café was full of those who couldn't get tickets. The little thief pushed through the patrons until she finally saw Paine's waving hand from a booth on the left near the back. Her usual cup of kirman coffee sat steaming in front of the warrior as Rikku slid onto the bench across from her.

"So," Rikku said with a smile, "I bet you just love blitz season here, you people-person you."

"Ha, ha," Paine said dryly back. "I've gotten used to it, actually."

"Really?"

"I've only killed three tourists this week."

The little Al Bhed giggled. "That's 'cause you keep yourself locked in the museum back room, I bet. Else it'd be more."

Paine cocked her head with a frown. "Why are you here bothering me again?"

"You invited me!" Rikku smiled.

"Oh yeah."

A waitress paused by the booth and placed a plate of Sweet Flan in front of Rikku, who looked puzzled by the action.

"I ordered for you," Paine shrugged, and nodded at the waitress before she moved off. "It's not as good as Barkeep's, but it's the best in Luca."

"Aw, that was nice of you!" Rikku grinned at her friend. "I don't get much of this at the site, that's for sure."

Paine smiled slightly. "Dig in," she said.

The blonde tapped the plate, making the confection jiggle before she dipped her spoon in and took a bite. "Are you trying to butter me up?" she said around a mouthful.

"Get you on a sugar high for the dash across the city."

"How _is_ life at the Museum?" Rikku asked.

"Dusty," Paine replied.

Rikku frowned. "Dusty like _my_ life?"

"No, dusty as in I constantly have these crotchety old scholars from Bevelle traipsing through my office, messing with my collections. They all smell funny."

The blonde giggled once more. "That's better than tourists!"

Paine raised an eyebrow. "Define 'better'."

"More entertaining to me."

"Well," the warrior shrugged, "you may get to witness it. The parade seems constant."

"You haven't killed any of _them_, have you?" Rikku smiled.

"I have a feeling that half of them are unsent as it is."

Rikku scooped another mouthful. Her eyes had drifted to the nearest sphere monitors. "I think it's cool that the Fangs are back and doing so well, don't you?"

Paine raised an eyebrow. "Really? Blitz talk?"

"What?" Rikku asked, spoon still in her mouth.

"It's just… you're showing remarkable restraint."

The Al Bhed set down the utensil deliberately. "I just figure there's no use trying to push you, is all."

Paine smiled. "You're learning."

Rikku shrugged in response. "I'm learning lots of things these days."

A hand reached to cover the little thief's. "I suppose you are."

"And I really _do_ think it's cool about the Fangs. I bet Kimahri is proud. Stoic, but proud."

"True," Paine answered.

"But next year is the Psyches' year!" Rikku exclaimed proudly, and Paine couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

"It looks ridiculous!" Leblanc fumed, hands gesturing at the banner draping from the ceiling between Logos and Ormi. Reflecting their disparate heights as they'd affixed it, the sign, proclaiming "The Bevelle Project — Grand Opening Soon", was hopelessly crooked. "Don't you have a stool to stand on, you numbskull?" she eyed the shorter, rounder minion.

"He broke it," Logos volunteered, faint smile on his lips.

Ormi shot his partner a venomous look.

"Paine!" Leblanc bellowed. The nearest of the dozen or so closest Museum patrons turned startled looks on its proprietor.

"Nice sign," Rikku said sweetly, and Leblanc and her helpers all swiveled their eyes to where she stood just inside the door, beside her gray-haired former teammate.

"Hello Rikku!" Leblanc flashed her slightly mocking smile. "I didn't hear you come in. Oh, there you are, Paine. Can you help these idiots with the banner?"

"Uhm, why can't _you_ help, Leblanc? You're pretty tall," Rikku furrowed her brow at the blonde.

"Why then, who would be able to judge how it looks, dear?" Leblanc said, condescension only thinly coating her words. She spread her arms with the question, affording a generous view of her ample figure. Her outfit spoke volumes about its wearer: total self-confidence — or was it arrogance? — to the point of folly. How did she ever fight in that getup?

"Me?" Paine answered Leblanc's question to Rikku sotto voce as she moved to replace Ormi in getting the banner straightened. The Al Bhed just grinned to herself.

"So how soon is 'soon'?" Rikku asked, nodding to the sign.

"A week and a half," Leblanc answered.

"Are all the spheres from Via Infinito ready?" the thief frowned. "I thought there were still a bunch of scholars coming and going, classifying things."

"There _are_," Leblanc said, eyes rolling. "But we don't need to have everything ready to get started. Must get the publicity going, and get people in here. Wouldn't want to run into the season's _other_ big event."

Yuna's wedding. It must kill Leblanc to think the Gullwings could still overshadow her, even after all this time, Rikku thought. "You have SphereNet lined up for the opening?"

"Of course, darling," the blonde said, her face glowing at the thought. "It's going to be a fantastic party!"

Ormi, who had waddled over to Rikku's side as Paine had taken his place, nudged her then rubbed his fingers and thumb together. 'Fortune', he mouthed to her. She smiled.

"So what brings you here, Rikku?" Leblanc asked. "I thought you were spending all your days back in the desert."

The Al Bhed sighed. "Mostly. But Paine had something to show me in the recovered spheres."

"Oh," Leblanc answered, starting to lose interest, "that's fascinating. Lots of history we're uncovering." She returned her gaze to where Paine and Logos were readjusting the sign. "Much better!" she said. "A little lower, Logos, or we'll have to get a Ronso to help you hang it."

"Yes, ma'am," the minion acknowledged.

The adjusting of the banner went on for quite a while. At Paine's suggestion, Rikku headed into her office near the back of the museum. Ormi brought her some tea, and she grumbled about having come all the way to Luca just to be stood up.

"The boss will let her go in just a few minutes, I think," the round man said to her, patting her hand where it had been drumming its fingers impatiently on Paine's desk.

"She's keeping her on purpose," Rikku sighed, frustrated.

"Oh, definitely," Ormi agreed, to the Al Bhed's surprise. She hadn't actually meant it, but had merely been venting frustration. "Trying to show you who's in charge."

Rikku puzzled at him. "But it's not a competition anymore. We've all got different lives now."

Ormi shrugged. "It's _always_ gonna be a competition with you Gullwings, Rikku, and Leblanc is taking her victories where she can find them. Don't pay it any mind."

After he left, the Al Bhed sipped her tea — a spicy blend from Guadosalam — and continued brooding. Before she'd made it halfway through her cup she was out of her famously short patience, and decided to head back to the museum floor and do some exploring while she waited.

The museum had been expanded several times since it first opened, and the main floor nearest the entrance was now vast, and accompanied by side chambers which held special displays whose content changed every few weeks. Two of the biggest side chambers, themselves connected by an interior door, were currently roped off as the Via Infinito collections were being prepared for their debut. Just recently opened was a showing of "The History of Sphere Creation", and with a frown across the main hall towards a still-bobbing banner, Rikku ducked inside.

The antechamber had a central aisle and was lined on two sides with displays, several to a side with a brass railing separating the exhibits from the viewing patrons, with panels before each that allowed museum visitors to push a button or pull a lever to activate an animation or video. At the moment Rikku was the room's lone visitor. The displays were bright and vibrant, but not gaudy, and Rikku wondered anew at the dichotomy of Leblanc's personal and professional tastes.

The little thief idly walked the perimeter of the room, reading and watching the informational tiles and videos, her small hand trailing along the brass rail in-between exhibits. Several displays on pyreflies were followed by an image that caught her attention more fully: the great tree overhanging the pool deep inside the Macalania woods. She cocked her head, then searched the elevated panel just beyond the rail for a button. She pressed it. A video came to life, narrated by what sounded like a very bored Logos.

"Here," it said, "is a source of many of the spheres you will find here in the Sphere Museum. Water from this sacred pond, long hidden within the Macalania forest, becomes infused with pyreflies, and solidifies in a process still not completely understood, to a hard, transparent substance which can hold and redisplay moving images." The video panned around the pool, its beauty breathtaking in the moonlight. "This, and other locations like it, are often called 'the place where memories are made'. Though Luca's famous Sphere Theater uses that phrase as its slogan, it more properly describes ancient places like this Macalania pool."

Rikku felt a tickle in her head. The thread of something important she should remember, but just couldn't quite grasp. She moved on through the exhibit, but was continually distracted by the idea that she was forgetting something significant. She shook herself, no longer able to focus, and decided to go retrieve Paine bodily. She was too busy at the site to stand around here just waiting on Leblanc to indulge her.

As Rikku left the room and started across towards the entrance to the hall, she furrowed her brow in frustration. What in all of Spira would Leblanc need to compete with Rikku for? The museum was very successful. For helping defeat Vegnagun, Leblanc was seen as a hero just as she and Paine were. (Okay, maybe not _just_ like they were; the Gullwings had accomplished more than just defeating that great mechanized monster.)

The answer came in a flash of memory: Leblanc and Gippal laughing and joking in the antechamber atop the Bevelle underground. Leblanc had had her crush on Nooj, but nothing had really come of it. Now perhaps Leblanc had moved on to the Machine Faction leader, and it wouldn't surprise Rikku if Gippal the Player hadn't even noticed. Now Leblanc saw Rikku's proximity to him in rebuilding Home, and their history as friends, as competition.

She stopped walking. If she protested now how she was wasting time away from Home, Leblanc would take it the wrong way. It would make things worse. Rikku took a deep breath and turned back around.

Walking towards Paine's workroom once more, a mischievous bounce entered her step as she neared the closed entrance to the Via Infinito exhibit. How such a strong woman as Leblanc could let herself be blown hither and yon with such regularity by her affection for a man baffled the thief. With a sly glance over her shoulder, the Al Bhed lifted the heavy velvet rope and ducked underneath, then entered the chamber.

* * *

The band had just finished another number, and the floor was still full of dancers. Rikku wiped the sweat from her brow as Paine spoke to her over the bustling crowd.

"Are you glad you decided to come to the party now?"

Rikku blinked at her. "Uhm, what do you mean?"

The warrior cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. "I mean you didn't want to come to the party, and yet you did. You probably stood in the closet on the Celcius for twenty minutes debating what you should wear and whether you should even come."

"No I didn't."

"Rikku, after all this time, I can read you like a scroll. I know you've been unhappy."

The thief shuffled on her feet. "I know, Paine," she couldn't look at her friend. "But I don't want to talk about it right now."

Paine squeezed her hand in response. Her own words were halting. "Whenever you… want to talk," she said, "you… you know I'm here, right?"

Rikku gave her a sad little smile. "I know," she said. She then screwed up her face in puzzlement, turning to the raised area at the room's end where the band was performing. "Why aren't they playing?" she asked, but could immediately see why. Yuna had moved to stand in front of the musicians.

"Good evening, everyone," the Praetor said into the hush that fell over the crowd at her appearance. "I hope everyone is having a good time at our little party. _Your_ party," she corrected herself, "your party, to thank you for all the hard work everyone is doing for our project here in Bevelle. That work will bring about something historic, something that will enrich all of Spira."

Yuna's eyes drifted over the gathered participants. Later, each would swear she had looked right at them, shared a smile with them alone. She was mesmerizing with her simple, quiet way. It's why so many had come here, had risked their lives in the dark chambers below. Why the factions battling in the aftermath of the Eternal Calm had abandoned their stubbornness and come together. They did it for their High Summoner. Their savior. Their Yuna.

"But now I'd like to speak to you about something else," she continued. "A short time before the Eternal Calm, a great tragedy befell Spira. Because of the terrible evil of one man, and the deep corruption of an institution in which all of us had put our faith," her eyes shone with a personal pain, "a wonderful people, the Al Bhed — with whom I share my blood — were nearly exterminated."

Rikku felt a hand on her arm, and knew it was Paine's without looking. She blinked back her tears.

"But through the actions of their leader — and my uncle — Cid, they survived. In the years since, the Al Bhed have spread throughout Spira, and live their lives among us. Many of them are happy this way, and many of us are happy to have them as our neighbors and friends."

A little squeeze from the hand on her arm, and Rikku's lips twitched on a smile.

"But unlike the rest of us," Yuna continued, "the Al Bhed no longer have a true home. The Ronso have Mt. Gagazet, the Guado are back in Guadosalam… but despite his tireless efforts, Cid hasn't had great success in getting the Al Bhed a new home like the one that was taken from them." Her eyes now landed on Rikku, and the Praetor smiled. "Now a new guardian has taken up this quest. Everyone in this room knows my wonderful cousin, and fellow Gullwing, Rikku."

The room's eyes turned to the little Al Bhed, whose own eyes widened in her face. Rikku looked at Paine quizzically, but the warrior shook her head. "I didn't say anything. I swear."

The little thief shrugged. "She just Yunie, I guess. Somehow she just knows stuff."

Yuna scanned her eyes back over the crowd, and then stopped in one particular direction. "In honor of her new mission, I'm making a donation to her Rebuilding Home fund, in the amount of five million gil."

There was a collective gasp around the room. Rikku felt the squeeze on her arm again, and felt tears well up in her eyes. She turned to Paine, who was smiling and shrugging at the same time.

"How in the…" Brother asked, stepping over to the two. "Five _million_?"

Paine nudged Rikku then, and the Al Bhed turned her gaze in the direction indicated. Barkeep was standing by the edge of the stage, nodding at Yuna.

She felt Buddy step beside her. "Uhm, has anyone ever asked Barkeep just how much money we've earned hunting spheres? He never really says, just puts it all away…"

"I don't know," Paine answered, "but if five million gil is Yuna's take, then the rest of us… great Yevon's ghost…"

But Rikku was only half-hearing them. She saw the particular direction to which Yuna had been looking: into the SphereNet camera held by Shelinda's sphere recorder. If she guessed right, Yuna had just announced her donation and implied plea live to all of Spira.

And with that, she'd done it again. Saved the world. It's what she did.

* * *

Rikku looked about the wide, long room, the velvet rope swinging slightly between its brass poles behind her. For the opening still being a week and a half away, the exhibit already looked set to accept visitors. A cloth banner above her head reiterated the room's theme: The Bevelle Project. Rikku idly wondered who had hung _that_ sign.

A placard at the room's front explained how many thousands of spheres had been recovered in the Underground, and that this exhibit was just a first sampling of those, with more to come in future displays. Looking about the room, and thinking of all the work she and Shinra and those who'd traveled into Via Infinito had done, and all the work Paine and the scholars were doing now to reconstruct these precious pieces of Spiran history, made Rikku happy anew that she'd gotten the chance to kick Trema's sorry unsent ass. How could he have taken it upon himself to just erase Spiran history? How selfish to try and wipe out all these memories… when memories are all we have left of some—

She swallowed her feelings. What was with her today? Why was everything reminding her of… of him?

Rikku shook her head and moved forward to the other displays. The exhibits were organized by location: Bevelle, Luca, Mount Gagazet, Guadosalam, etc. Each contained spheres from various periods of time stretching back dozens to hundreds of years. The Al Bhed section seemed undersized, even though only a tiny fraction of all the spheres were yet displayed. Rikku promised herself that once the new Home was complete, she'd dedicate more resources to recovering any spheres lost in Sanubia from where the old Home had been. Trema may not have had many Al Bhed spheres to destroy, but she wouldn't let Seymour and the Guado accomplish erasing their history either.

Listen to myself, Rikku thought. _She'd_ dedicate more resources. _She_ wouldn't let the Guado erase their history.

_She_ was sounding like Nooj, or Baralai, or Yuna, or… or Cid.

What happened to that Rikku who was all about having fun, not about dedicating resources? Or to when saving the world was all fly by the seat of your pants heroism? That's the kind of life girls her age were supposed to have… at least it was now that Sin was gone, and you didn't need to live each moment like it was your last.

Rikku no longer felt the need to marry the first person she fell in love with. But she sure did want to fall in love. Crazy, wild, fly by the seat of your pants love, like girls her age were supposed to have.

Her wandering through the exhibit brought her now to an extra large display, one as large and oversized as the Al Bhed one was small: Zanarkand. No surprise there: Trema's original Sphere Hunters searched quite a bit in the destroyed city's ruins; it was probably the first place they went. The display had a rough timeline to it, describing the summoner's city before, and then during the Machina War, followed by the first appearances of Sin, including the city's destruction. Rikku's eyes drifted over the panel absently, until something dragged her attention back. Mentions of Dream Zanarkand. _His_ Zanarkand.

Her hand tentative, she reached forward and touched the button on the elevated panel. This time it was Isaaru's voice that emerged from the speakers, clear and strong.

"Knowing Zanarkand could not survive the war with Bevelle, part of Yu Yevon's plan was to create a Zanarkand that their enemy simply could not destroy with guns and bombs. One created with the unique abilities in which the Summoners excelled."

A sphere projector alit, showing a static-filled scene from a thousand years past: a gathering of men and women in the kinds of clothing Rikku remembered from that sphere Seymour had shown them. One man in particular spoke to the others… an older man, kindness in his eyes, back before the time when his own summoning would reduce him to a mindless husk: Yu Yevon himself.

"Zanarkand will be a memory," he said, voice clear and strong and full of conviction, "so we will use memories to rebuild it. The summoning will conjure the landscape of our mind's eye. A work of art, and a work of love."

Issaru's own voice returned, but Rikku had tuned it out. A work of love. Would the Fayth have dreamed Shuyin as Tidus, as Paine had suggested? Would they have smoothed over his rough edges, his bitterness, and fashioned him into the man she knew, out of love?

It wasn't the first time she'd thought about it, that she'd considered the possibility. When Paine had brought it up down in the Gaol, Rikku had been angry with her because she'd thought that herself once. Thought it, and dismissed it, certain not that it was wrong, but that she _wanted_ it to be wrong.

"But would it matter?" Rikku said to herself softly. "Would I love you less?"

The words had passed her lips without thinking. Her cheeks flushed, her heart clenched, and she opened her mouth again to recant, to say aloud to herself and that memory that hung about her always that it's not what she really meant, when someone spoke from behind her.

"Enjoying the exhibit so far?"

The little thief gasped and spun about. Paine raised eyebrows at her. "Did I startle you?" she asked.

"Jeepers yes!"

Paine gestured around the room. "Guess we've made it pretty absorbing then," she smiled.

Rikku knew she was kidding, but played along so as not to have to admit her distraction. "It's really cool. It seems like it's already finished… why haven't you opened it yet?"

The warrior shrugged. "Oh, there's still a few final touches to complete. A couple of things on the Kilika display," she pointed off to her left. "Also the scholars are finishing restoration on a couple of spheres of the Calm Lands, and," she nodded towards the room's far end, "Cid is supposed to deliver a couple items as well."

Rikku frowned. "What's Pops bringing to—" she began, and then stopped, her eyes locked on the display Paine had last indicated. "Wha— what is _that_?" she asked, her voice small.

Paine smiled. "Go see," she said.

The Al Bhed walked gingerly towards the room's far end. The text at the top of the display read "About The Bevelle Project". There were images about its edges from the various chambers of Via Infinito. Along one side was a cross-sectional map showing the descent of the rooms deep into the Bevelle underground. Here was an image of a Elder Drake; there one of a Black Elemental. But across the bulk of the display's surface were images of herself.

Rikku and Shinra, huddled by the wall examining their equipment. Rikku with both daggers planted in a Mega Tonberry. Rikku standing, head down, atop the teleport in the upper antechamber, still changed from the Berserker dressphere, great beastly hands hung limply by her sides as the blood of some beast dried across her skin.

It was a tribute to her… her and Shinra. Rikku stood transfixed before it.

"What do you think?" Paine asked from beside her elbow.

"It's…" her voice was thick. "It's too much."

Paine snorted. "Rikku, without your genius," she gestured around the long chamber, "none of this would have been possible. You think we're going to just ignore that?"

"Paine, I…" She swallowed, then changed tack. "Leblanc actually let you put this up?" she said, a smile on her lips.

The warrior chuckled. "I think she was afraid to say no when she saw my face. And Logos'. And Ormi's."

Rikku shook her head. "Thank you," she said simply.

Paine put her hand on Rikku's arm. "C'mon. The sphere I wanted you to see is in my office." The warrior led her out of the antechamber, the little Al Bhed taking one last wistful glance at the room before departing, the heavy velvet rope down swinging softly to and fro in their wake.

* * *

Paine's office was just off the main museum workshop, and at first glance could be mistaken as one and the same with it. Like Rikku's office back on Bikanel, Paine's was very much a working space, piled high in nearly every corner with papers and wooden cases full of spheres, but for her own commsphere, which was easily accessible. Her office was smaller than the workroom to which it was attached, and the only available floor space within was around the chair behind Paine's desk, around the chair before it, and enough in the doorway to ensure the warrior could close said door between herself and whatever scholar was currently annoying her. Rikku sat down in the guest chair as before, while Paine reached into a drawer to retreive a small pillow and, setting aside Rikku's half-empty tea cup, placed it in the center of her desk.

"Is that for nap-time?" Rikku teased.

Paine ignored her, sliding a small box from behind a stack of papers to over in front of herself. She lifted the lid and removed a sphere, which she gently placed in the center of the small pillow.

Rikku looked at it askance, then up at Paine. "What's on it?" she asked.

"Take a look," the warrior urged.

"Not even a clue?"

Paine sighed. "You practically begged me to tell you from your office in Bikanel. Now that it's right in front of you you're going to ask me instead of just picking it up and looking?"

"It's all the anticipation," Rikku said, "it's making me nervous."

Paine leaned forward slightly. Her voice took on the barest edge. "Pick. It. Up."

Lower lip jutting forward just slightly, the little blonde reached a hand forward and, with a last little hesitation, slid the pillow over to her side of the desk. Then she slipped her fingers around the sphere and lifted it.

As with all the recreated spheres, it had the appearance of great age. Perhaps it was that the original had been old and so this mimicked that, or maybe it was that the pyreflies — and thus the memories within — were themselves quiet aged; no one knew for certain. In any case, Rikku felt the urge to treat it as especially fragile. Cupping her palms beneath it, she raised the crystal vessel before her face.

Paine watched her friend closely as Rikku stared into the sphere. Back in the chamber above Via Infinito, Paine used to observe the little thief when she and Shinra would review the spheres they'd reconstructed. There was always a tension in Rikku's face, an anticipation, and it was always followed by a hint of disappointment. As time had gone by, and more and more spheres had passed before her eyes, that anticipation had given way to the disappointment earlier and earlier in the playback, until finally all Paine ever saw when Rikku looked into those spheres was resignation.

But this… this time was different. As Paine knew it would be.

The sphere's interior filled with the customary static, followed by a blue background, onto which words appeared as tinny music began to play. The words said "Zanarkand News Service", and the graphic faded to show two brightly smiling news anchors.

"The blitzball playoffs are well underway," said the man, "and anticipation couldn't be higher." He looked to his female counterpart.

"That's right, Janek," she said in cheerful reply, "and no matter who you are cheering for, fans around the league are watching the play of one new star in particular. ZNS correspondent Camdor spent a few minutes with him outside the practice facility of the Abes of A-East. Camdor?"

"Thanks Yanelle. There is no bigger time of the year for blitzball fans, and right now there is no bigger focus, for both fans and opponents, than Tidus, rookie phenom of the Zanarkand Abes, and son of the late blitzball superstar Jecht. I got to spend a few minutes with the star after practice this afternoon, his last time in the sphere before tonight's semi-final game."

Then there he was, and he was beautiful. Even through the static, there was no mistaking that face for which she knew every line, every curve. He was speaking, but for a moment all Rikku could hear were the sounds of his voice, the timbre and tone, like a wordless music washing over her. Her heart clenched and unclenched, her palms prickled with sweat.

Somehow she'd known it would be him on the sphere. All the little moments, the clues and memories that brought him to her thoughts today, had fed her anticipation of what she'd see when she gazed beyond its crystal surface. But now that he was there, before her eyes, she had no idea what to do with this information. Why now, just weeks before Yuna's wedding, would they get their first clue, their first glimpse of him, like some random event, when more than a year's search had brought nothing? What did it mean? What should they do about this?

"Yeah, well, we've just got to take it one game at a time," Tidus was telling the reporter. "We can't look past D-North to the finals. We've got to go out there this week and give it one hundred and ten percent, and make a total team effort to win."

Paine saw the trembling lower lip, and the blinking liquid eyes. She watched patiently until she knew the sphere was finished, the reporter thanking the blitzball player, the anchors thanking the reporter. She kept watching as Rikku steadied herself with a few deep breaths. As she blinked back the heaviest of her emotions. Paine gave the tiniest of comforting smiles when Rikku turned eyes to her at last; too much wouldn't do when the little princess still couldn't admit to herself how she felt, much less to the stern warrior.

"I knew he wasn't Shuyin," Rikku said, her voice very small.

Paine almost laughed, but checked herself. "I stand corrected," she replied, "you were right about that."

"Darn tootin'," Rikku said, the smile only in her eyes before she looked away.

Paine waited through a few more silent moments before she asked, "Rikku… what do you want to do?"

The Al Bhed turned back towards her friend, face aswirl in passing emotions. For a moment she still said nothing. Then she deliberately set the sphere back on the pillow, and shrugged. "Nothing. Back then, I thought whatever clue we uncovered would somehow tell us how to get him back. This gives us nothing. And it doesn't matter now… Yunie's moved on. She's happy."

The brunette warrior just stared, her mouth half-open. She did this for so long that Rikku's brow creased in confusion.

"What?" the blonde asked.

Paine closed her mouth. Was it possible that Rikku was so oblivious of own her heart's desires that she thought Paine had found this for Yuna?

"Really, Rikku," she asked finally, "you want to do nothing?"

The little thief closed her eyes, placed her hands to her temples and gave an exasperated sigh. "No, I don't _want_ to do nothing. I want to do everything! I want to drop the whole Home project in Cid's lap and jump back on the Celcius and search everywhere there is to search, and if I don't find anything, search it all again! I want to fight my way back to the bottom of Via Infinito again, by myself if I have to, and see what other spheres we can find of him! I want to bring him back and— and—"

She seemed to realize what she had just been saying, and looked mortified by it. "You know what? I'm just tired, Paine. I guess all the construction planning and oversight is just getting to me. Forget all that stuff I just said."

And with that, Paine knew, Rikku was shut down once more about the whole thing. The warrior had a great deal of patience — she had let her own conflict with Nooj go for years without addressing it — but it was not infinite. She wanted to throttle her friend, make Rikku admit to herself her feelings for the unsent blitzballer. She also wanted to throttle a certain helmeted Fayth, although his suggestion of recreating spheres had led to such an embarrassment of riches it somewhat mitigated her irritation towards him. Still, Paine felt beyond frustrated that, after all this time and effort recreating the spheres and searching among them for some hint of Tidus, then getting Rikku to fly all the way here from Bikanel, the Al Bhed was still giving the same stand-offish denials and avoidances she always gave.

But then, she told herself, Rikku had no idea that the entire Bevelle Project had been just to get them to _this_ moment. Was just to recover _this_ sphere. How could Paine expect Rikku to know what Paine's expectations had been, and how could Paine be disappointed that Rikku had failed to meet them?

Paine grit her teeth, and looked around the room. She decided to play along for just a bit longer. "So you're sure we shouldn't show this to Yuna?"

"With her wedding coming up?" Rikku replied, eyebrows so high they nearly disappeared into her hair. "No, that's absolutely what we should _not_ do. She'd think it was a sign, and it would freak her out."

"What if it _is_ a sign?" Paine cocked her head.

"It isn't a sign for Yunie," the little thief said with vigor.

Paine half-grinned to herself, wondering if Rikku even heard the implication in her own voice that the sphere could be a sign for someone else. She placed her palms on the desk. "Well," she said, "that settles that then." She looked at the clock on her office wall. "Hey, since you _are_ in Luca, you want to catch a blitzball match?"

Rikku grinned. "Paine, taking off work early for blitzball? What is Spira coming to?"

The warrior narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Yes," Rikku answered, "I'd love to catch a game."

They both stood, Rikku smoothing her tiny skirt and adjusting the bows on her sleeves while Paine came around the desk. Rikku startled when she saw her friend's hand appear beneath her nose.

"Take it," Paine said, holding out the sphere.

Rikku blinked, and backed away as if she'd been offered a snake. "No," she said, "I couldn't."

"Sure you can."

"But… but it's for the collection," she said, the conviction not very strong in her voice.

Paine rolled her eyes. "The collection has ten thousand spheres and growing. It won't be missed."

With even more hesitation than she'd shown before, Rikku lifted the crystal orb from Paine's palm, looking at it with her face held carefully blank for a moment before slipping it gingerly into a pouch. She cinched the drawstring and patted the leather twice before looking back up at Paine.

"Shall we go?" Rikku asked.

"After you," Paine gestured.

"Who's playing?"

The brunette cocked an eyebrow. "Do you care?"

Rikku smiled. "Nah. It's blitzball!" she answered, the carefree cheerfulness in her voice almost convincing.

* * *

Paine lived as far from the stadium as you could possibly be while still technically residing in Luca. Rikku thought she'd live on the Highroad if it was practical. The warrior claimed it was due to the noise from late night blitzball games, but the blonde had a suspicion the reason was partly that it meant only a quick hover ride separated her home and Youth League Headquarters. This was reenforced by the fact that Paine's home was a two story townhouse with two balconied bedrooms on the second floor: one balcony facing the city, the other the Highroad. And Paine had chosen the bedroom that faced Luca. During the blitz game Rikku had tried dropping as many Nooj teases as she thought she could dare without Paine becoming violent. Paine's only reaction though was to comment that Rikku was compensating for… well, something she wouldn't specify.

The night was dark as the Al Bhed stepped out onto the quiet balcony off the guest room. She'd turned off the bedside lamp before exiting, but it still took a few moments for her eyes to adjust in the dimness, and Rikku found her gaze drawn to the only movement she could initially discern — the slow random drift of a few isolated pyreflies over the clearing at the top of the stairs leading up from the city. She could hear little but the chirping of crickets and the jingle of the harness on a lone chocobo in its pen.

It was a different quiet than Bikanel, which itself had a different character than when Rikku had been growing up. The desert back then had been all the whisper of wind over sand and the occasional far-off screech of a zuu or roar of a sandworm. The hum of people had all been sealed up within Home's great metal walls. These days it was strewn across the sand in the tents and around the campfires of the workers, gentle enough to pass for silence, but loud enough to drown out the desert in all but the deepest hours of night.

It was only after a few moments of enjoying the stillness, standing by the balcony's railing, gazing out into the night, that Rikku realized her fingers had returned to the leather pouch at her waist — as they'd done over and over all evening. With a glance over her shoulder back into the room and a cock of her ear for any sound of Paine — even knowing the warrior had already turned in — Rikku allowed herself to begin working open the cinch. Her heart thudding, her fingertips touched the smooth crystal surface of the sphere within. It felt warm, though perhaps that was just her imagination.

Rikku closed her eyes, and pulled the sphere from the pouch. She lifted it before her face, and felt it come to life. She listened again to the tinny music, and the overly cheerful voices of the newscasters. She waited until that moment she'd been thinking about since she'd left Paine's office that afternoon: until his voice, his wonderfully warm, cheerful, carefree voice, was in her ears.

Rikku opened her eyes; they were glistening and her vision blurry. His smile was so bright, crinkling the corners of his eyes, that it caused her own to split her face from ear to ear, tears squeezed out and sliding down her face 'til they reformed and her vision went liquid once more. Here alone on the veranda she could show just what she'd carefully contained when Paine was watching, but the act of letting those feelings out gave them purchase and she nearly sank to her knees in a mixture of affection and grief.

Yet it was with no great surprise that, as the glow of the sphere faded back into the dim of night, Rikku saw the small Fayth standing beside her on the balcony. Rikku immediately forced back the emotions that had threatened to overwhelm her, one hand sneaking up to brush away her tears. The Fayth was not facing her, but instead the object in her other hand.

"You have recovered a memory," he said.

"One of many," Rikku shrugged, feigning nonchalance, "from under Bevelle."

"But the first of great importance to you."

"Great importance?" she asked, having a hard time keeping her voice steady.

His head swiveled towards her. "The first you've found… with _him_."

She broke. It was all too much, with the day's events and revelations, to maintain the impossibly calm façade. Her pixie face dissolved under the downpour of more tears.

"Oh, please, please can't I see him?" Rikku begged.

The Fayth tilted back his head so that his eyes emerged from beneath the brim of his helmet. Those eyes, Rikku thought, were as filled with wisdom — and with pain — as any she'd seen in her entire life. When he responded to her question it was with one of his own. "Why?"

She was taken completely aback for a moment. What did he mean, 'why'? Didn't he know by now?

"Be—because—" she sputtered, "because he was my friend!"

He simply looked at her.

"My— my _best_ friend," she tried again. "My _first_ friend, really, outside my family, that is. More that Yunie, even… maybe not as much as Paine, but I've known her longer now, but only because he— because he _left_," she said, unable to say the word 'died'.

Still, he continued to just look at her.

"Can't you bring him back for me?"

The Fayth blinked at how 'let me see him' had become 'bring him back'. Like Paine before, he wondered if she realized it. He did not answer.

The tone in Rikku's voice became tinged with agony. "You would have brought him back for her!"

"She loved him."

Rikku's mouth opened, but she couldn't speak. Part of her brain was screaming at her, but she couldn't hear what it was saying.

The Fayth looked deeper into her eyes. "What is the wish of your heart?"

Unable — or unwilling — to connect the dots, Rikku was thrown. "I don't know. Why do you keep asking me?"

"You must make your decision, Princess," he shrugged, the motion bringing the helmet back down over his eyes. "You must see into your heart, or we can never repay you for the gift you have given us."

"Repay me," she snorted, wiping her eyes again. "Repay me. But all you do is torture me to make a decision."

She touched the sphere again. "Maybe he could help me decide." She turned puppy-dog eyes on the Fayth, but when he didn't respond, she hung her head. "He wouldn't remember anyway," she sighed. "Wouldn't remember what we talked about, wouldn't remember how much I miss him, wouldn't remember to come back to me."

At that, the Fayth reached out to lightly grasp her hand. This small act of comfort warmed her, and stemmed her crying. She suddenly felt exhausted.

"I've had a long day," Rikku said to him. "If you don't mind…" she nodded back towards the bedroom, and he bowed graciously, letting her fingers slip from his. With a last look back up into the starry sky, and perhaps at the pyreflies drifting beneath it, she disappeared through the black outline of the glass door, and slid it shut behind her.

The Fayth stood on the balcony for a moment longer. She was close, he thought, just the barest breath away from the answer. He knew it.

"Remember he is a dream, Princess, and dream of him. Then, he will remember," the Fayth said to himself, and he faded into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

**I usually don't post Author's Notes inside a story, but I thought it might be necessary in this case. Because I uploaded Chapter 7 before I updated the story notes for Unsent — and if I updated more often I'd know better — the Story Alert notices went out with the following note on the Summary line: "Chapter 6 is up! Only one more chapter to go!" That "one more chapter", though, is _this_ chapter, Chapter 7. I'm sorry if this has caused some confusion.**

**It's especially frustrating for me since I spent a lot of time planning and tailoring this chapter just so, both so that it flows naturally into "Home" and also doesn't usurp any scenes that already appear in "Home". (By the way, remind me to never do a prequel again. It has been my definition of Hell — despite my love of Tikku!)**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and thanks for sticking with this story for so long between updates. I promise it won't be so bad for "Reunions". And I love all your reviews (hint, hint)! Now on to the chapter…**

===

The occasionally static-smeared image broadcast to all of Spira via SphereNet couldn't hope to capture the rich green foliage or the deep blue of the waters. Though the Eternal Calm had brought new construction to nearly everywhere now that Sin could no longer wreak its destruction, Besaid Island was still the most untouched colony in Spira, being the most distant and least well known. As such, nature reigned in all its extravagant glory upon Besaid's verdant hills and lush valleys.

But nature didn't provide all the colors on the island. Besaid seemed as awash in the most vibrant fabrics as it did in leaves and flowers on this day, as more people moved over its sandy beaches and well-worn trails than had walked the island in perhaps a thousand years. Guado and Al Bhed, Ronso and Hypello, fishermen from Kilika and artists from Bevelle; everyone dressed in their finest clothes for this happiest of occasions since the Calm itself had begun: the wedding of Yuna, their beloved High Summoner, and Baralai, Chairman of the New Yevon Party.

He ran to keep up with a few other kids as they made their way across the crowded hillside and towards the village. He was not used to running, but better to stay with the kids than stroll along alone and be bothered by a helpful adult. Hand on his helmet, the Fayth adjusted it slightly to keep the sun out of his eyes, and hurried to keep pace.

But when they reached the statue near the overlook the Fayth paused, letting the children move on without him. Like the ancient ruins of earlier peoples scattered around Spira, monuments like this statue would stand long after their purpose was forgotten. Already, few in the throng even gave the remembrance a second glance as they headed down the hillside and into the village. The multitudes were leaving behind the religion most had followed the majority of their lives, and many of the precepts would fade until they were just superstitions.

The Fayth turned his head then to look back towards the hamlet below. That abandonment had started here. Here and in the dream of a city whose death had led to that religion's birth. He couldn't mourn that religion's demise any more than did those who turned their backs on this statue. Though it had fostered great good at times, too often it was a tool of abuse and corruption.

He turned from the statue to face full the village below. Down there was the burly blitzballer and his crimson-eyed bride. The muscular blue-furred Ronso elder. The sublimely beautiful High Summoner. The desert's pixie-princess. They had ended Yevon, and they were even now laying the foundations of what would succeed it. This day's event was just another rock upon which to build.

Of course it was, too, something else. It was an end, and a beginning, of the High Summoner's latest quest. That which began at the end of her last, when she closed a dark chapter in Spira's past, extinguished the shadow of a tragic love of another summoner and her blitzballer, a shadow that nearly darkened all of Spira. In lighting that darkness, she'd learned to move on from that so-familiar story weighing upon herself, and look to her future with hope, rather than her past with regret.

Now she was beginning a life anew in that hope with this man, taking a vow to make it, and him, a part of her life forever. And for that roster of heroes who'd released him from his millennial chains, whom he watched in the chamber of forever as they shared their lives with the loves sent before them, there was now truly only one whose dreams surpassed her waking hours.

She'd come, that one, the princess, so far since the Fayth had first committed to guiding her to her own happiness. Come to a place she'd barely thought of being in her youth, and if so, had dreaded. Even now, she couldn't see the great promise in her position, only the solitude and responsibility. But she was so much closer to her bliss than she knew.

"Syopa cusatyo!" she'd called. _Maybe someday_…

Maybe today.

* * *

The tropical saris the bridesmaids wore were comfortable in the Besaid heat. Rikku giggled, as she'd done all morning, at Paine, who looked distinctly _un-_comfortable regardless. "I know you really want to strap on a scabbard and sword, Paine, but I assure you it _will_ clash."

"Ha ha. If you could fit your daggers under that," the warrior indicated the colorful garment, "you would."

Rikku shook her head. "Nah, I know a good party when I see one and mean to enjoy."

"I hope so," Yuna said, "because you've spent far too much time working lately, both of you."

They stood in an antechamber of the Besaid temple: Rikku, Paine, Yuna, and a very pregnant Lulu, the last helping the bride with her hair. The air seemed lighter to Rikku than any other time she'd been within its walls, though that was certainly due, at least in part, to the great windows New Yevon had fitted into the structure in a remodeling last year.

"You know, we all promised no violence this time around," Rikku chastised.

"Besides," the Matron of Honor said, "magic is so much more handy and discreet at events like this." She slipped a tiny Cait Sith doll from inside her sari, and Paine laughed.

"Oh!" Yuna shook her head. "You two are horrible!"

"Yeah!" Rikku agreed, moving to stand beside the bride and wagging a finger at the two crimson-eyed women. "You guys are bad." Then she winked. "That means you two are in front if there's a fight."

Yuna's jaw dropped and she batted playfully at her cousin. "The only fight there will be here today, all of you, is for the bouquet. Got that?"

"I promise no fighting," Lulu answered, then tapped her belly, "not _even_ for the bouquet."

The summoner glared at that other two when they still said nothing. Paine and Rikku looked at one another, and then back at Yuna.

"Fine," Paine shrugged. "No violence."

"Rikku?" Yuna pinned her cousin with her eyes.

"I'm saving my brawling for Paine's wedding," the little thief smiled. "I hear those Youth League shindigs can get quite out of hand." She giggled at Paine's narrowed eyes.

Lulu had resumed her tweaking of the bride's hair. Bobby-pin in her teeth, she addressed the others without looking. "Not to get ahead of ourselves, but who's next?"

"I'm sorry?" Rikku asked.

"To get her happy ending. Which of the two of you?"

"What?" Paine asked. "As if a man and a marriage is what you need to be happy?"

"Hardly," Lulu replied. "Looking at this group of women," she gestured around, chuckling, "who could think that?"

Yuna smiled, adding, "I think it's finding love in yourself — and of yourself — that is the beginning of happiness. I'd even say it's only when you can do that that you can accept the love of another. And it's not really a happy ending either, but a beginning."

"Spoken like a Maester," Rikku said. "And I mean that in a good way." She bounced over nearer the warrior, but still out of arm's length. "I'm picking Paine though. If I can only get her to admit it out loud."

"Paine?" Yuna asked. "Have you found love among the spheres?"

The warrior gave a quick glance to Rikku, who missed it at the distraction of butterflies in her stomach. "Not among the spheres, no," Paine answered.

Rikku's attention refocused. "Nope, at the other end of the Highroad, actually."

"Is that why you're on about the Youth League, Rikku?" Yuna asked. "Is it—"

"Nooj!" Rikku exclaimed with unrestrained delight.

"There's nothing definite between Nooj and myself," Paine said calmly. But her eyes would not meet the High Summoner's. "I'm not even sure where he stands with Leblanc."

"That's because you won't _ask_ him," Rikku said. "I know you, Paine, you spend all this time with him, helping him with this and that and the other, and yet you won't actually bring up how you _feel_ about him, or ask how he feels about you." Paine attempted to skewer the Al Bhed with a look, but Rikku ignored it. "It took almost a _year_ for you to tell me about you and the Crimson Squad, and I'm your best friend!"

Yuna shrugged. "She has a point, Paine."

The warrior narrowed her eyes further, cheeks red, now only inches from Rikku.

The blonde stood her ground. "Sorry, but you can't be tough in taffeta."

Paine cracked a grin despite herself, and Yuna started giggling, and then they were all laughing until their sides hurt.

"I've missed you guys," Yuna said, and threw her arms around her cousin, who hugged back, and then Paine, who did her best not to look embarrassed.

"Alright, break it up," Lulu said, hand on the bride's shoulder, "you're going to mess up your gown, and don't start crying or I'll have to do your makeup all over again."

"Yes, Lulu," Yuna said, pretending to roll her eyes, and moving back to where the Matron of Honor had been helping her get ready for the ceremony.

The Al Bhed was checking her own readiness in a mirror when Paine spoke from beside her.

"I say it's Rikku."

"What's Rikku?" the little thief asked curiously.

"To get your happy ending."

Rikku's expression became wistful. "You sure we all get one of those?" Off Paine's expression she demurred. "Okay, it just _feels_ like I'm never getting one sometimes."

"And with that attitude, are you surprised?" Paine replied.

"Riiiiight, Miss Sunshine and Roses," Rikku chuckled.

"Hey," Paine shrugged, "life usually changes when you least expect it to. You've just got to stay open to every possibility. Every—"

"—dream?" Rikku finished the thought, but so quietly Paine wasn't even certain her friend had spoken aloud, or that she'd merely heard the whisper of Rikku's heart.

Paine nodded her head, rather than voice a reply. She could see something in her friend's eyes, an admission the girl wasn't quite ready to make but could no longer hide. She felt she could speak his name, and Rikku would be helpless to deny it just then. Deny her love.

Yet too, Paine knew this wasn't the time or place to speak of such, right here in the room with Yuna, but she vowed that bring it up she would, and soon.

* * *

The priest was petrified. Standing within the temple's other antechamber, across the room from the groom and groomsmen, Wakka, Nooj, and Gippal, he went over his notes for the ceremony and blessing with a deepening sense of panic. He was about to perform the wedding of the greatest hero in modern Spiran history to the leader of his entire faith. In front of — well, of _everyone_ in Spira, either in person or on the Sphere network. The closer the moment came, the more he felt that maybe panic was justified.

For their part, the groomsmen seemed almost entirely at ease.

"So you try to destroy the world with Vegnagun," Gippal said to the groom, "and now Yuna is marrying you. Maybe _I_ should have let the evil unsent possess me."

Nooj smiled. "I don't think that's the reason she's marrying him, Gippal."

"Oh, look who's talking!" the Al Bhed teased back. "You got possessed too, and you're in good with a Gullwing yourself."

Wakka shook his head. "Trust me, these women aren't attracted to the bad things they've done," he gestured at Baralai and Nooj.

"That's disappointing," Gippal said.

"Why?" Wakka raised his eyebrows.

Gippal put his hands to his hips, puffed out his chest, and winked his one eye. "Because bad boy is my best side."

The other three both scoffed and laughed. "You wish!" Nooj offered.

The Al Bhed rest a hand on Baralai's shoulder. "Well there's got to be _some_ reason Yuna would marry you."

"Obviously intelligence has a lot to do with it," Baralai smiled.

"Yours or hers?" Gippal replied. "Because I'm not sure you have any, and I'm still questioning hers for being with you."

"Now now, Gip," Nooj said. "Clearly Baralai has enough to recognize when he has a good thing going."

"Amen to that," the Chairman said, and they all laughed again.

"Let me tell you," Wakka said, looking from one of them to the next, "even without the evil unsent, I'm not surprised you three tried to kill each other with how good you all are at picking on one another."

Nooj smiled, exchanging glances with his fellows. "It's just how we ease the tension."

"Yeah," Gippal chimed in, "I'm sure you do something like it with your Blitzball team before a big game, if they're nervous."

"Who's nervous?" Wakka asked.

After a moment, Baralai answered. "Weren't you, before you're wedding?"

"Oh ya," the big man replied. "I was shaking like a flan. So I guess you're entitled."

"Looks like I'm not the only one," Baralai said, and at Wakka's raised eyebrow he nodded towards the priest fidgeting apart from them, apparently lost in his own thoughts. The blitzballer smiled to himself and, with a touch on Baralai's elbow in answer, headed across the room.

"Calm down, ya?" Wakka said, clapping the minister on the shoulder. The priest started, but then looked at Wakka curiously. "Whatever you're nervous about," the big man said, "forget it. This day isn't about you, you know? It's about those two celebrating their love for each other, and letting me and you and all the folks here share in the party. _That's_ the memory that's gonna last a hundred years, ya?" He gestured out towards the sanctuary and beyond. "No one's gonna remember what kind of flowers there were, just that they were pretty. Or what kind of cake we had, just that it tasted good and they had fun smooshing it in each others faces. Or what words your big overseer," he jabbed a thumb skyward, "had you say, really. You're just echoing what they already feel in their hearts, you know? So speak from yours!" Wakka thumped the priest on the chest.

The minister took a deep breath, and smiled at the big man. "Thank you. You're quite wise, you know that? Maybe you should be doing my job!"

Wakka laughed, and shrugged. "Nah," he said, thinking of a shock of dark hair and a pair of crimson eyes. "I just got a lotta love around me, ya? And sometimes it soaks in."

* * *

In the nave of Besaid Temple, thick drapes had been drawn across the tall windows, leaving it as muted as the days of Yevon. Long ropes of golden satin hung from them to the chamber floor. Banks of candles lit the chamber all around, sending shadows dancing across its great expanse. There was a pleasant coolness to the air despite the open flames, and the gentle murmur of the guests inside the Temple did not clash with the soft madrigal of the Macalania band. Hanging about all was the spicy hint of incense.

The priest stood atop the stairs to the temple's sanctuary, his demeanor considerably more calm than before. The seated guests within could hear the great throng of guests without — watching on SphereNet — but at a change in the music a hush fell across them all. From the left chamber came the groomsmen, from the right the bridesmaids, and each man passed a single flower to his partner as they crossed at the stairs' foot. At last Baralai came through the Temple door, his last time through them as only a man and not a husband, and the priest descended the steps to meet him at their bottom.

Then, the music changed once more, and as the guests all stood, Yuna appeared at the top of the sanctuary stairs as she had as a freshly minted summoner years before. By her side and arm linked with hers stood a stoic blue Kimahri, the Ronso elder who'd been more father to the High Summoner than any other since Braska had died. Together they slowly descended, and at the bottom Kimahri kissed Yuna gently on the cheek, and placed her hand into Baralai's, giving the Chairman an intimidating look that spoke of all the bad things that would befall the man if Baralai hurt his charge, before his lips turned up to a smile. As the Ronso moved to stand amongst the guests, the wedding party all turned forward to face the priest, and the ceremony began.

The priest spoke of love and sacrifice, of the sharing of burdens and joys. "Though the cloak of Yevon was shredded, together from its threads you weaved a blanket of faith to warm us," he said. "Here and now may the love of the family of Spira warm you in return."

He paused, then wiped a bit of nervous sweat from his brow. "I can feel the warmth now," he said, and tension-breaking laughter spread from the Temple's front to its doors and out across the island of guests. In its wake, Rikku's eyes drifted along the same path. She could feel the joy of the guests like a physical force, much like the priest expressed. After all the darkness she had seen in her young life, there was so much brightness to the world about her now, and despite the melancholy of her recent days and months, Rikku opened herself up just a bit to let that force in. She closed her eyes and let a smile widen upon her lips. Her head turned back to the front, and the couple before her, and she opened her eyes once more.

But it wasn't Baralai standing there anymore. It was Tidus, and he looked magnificent, blond hair shining warmly in the candlelight, sun-bronzed skin aglow, his smile… that brilliant smile… Rikku felt suddenly jealous of the bride he shared that smile with — but when she looked back, the bride was no longer Yuna, but herself.

In all her life, Rikku had never had that little-girl daydream, of herself as a bride, picturing the dress, the flowers, the man. In the harshness of Home, it had always seemed too self-indulgent. She'd figured she would marry young and have lots of kids, but she'd never taken that step to picture the day in her mind.

Now it was all in front of her. From the strands of Kilikan pearls in her hair to the smell of Pysanna blooms to the brilliant sunshine cascading all around them like the satin flounce about her feet, Rikku had such a concrete picture of it all in her head it made her knees weak. She only realized she'd made a little gasp when Paine touched her elbow and caught her eye. The Al Bhed blinked several times, then focussed on the concerned face of her friend. Rikku took a deep breath and gave a little nod, and was reassured when she saw no one else in the wedding party had noticed them.

Rikku felt hot from head to toe. Why would she picture this all of a sudden? But she knew why… for the same reason she'd seen snatches of this vision during her sleeping hours for weeks. Since Paine had given her that sphere, the one she couldn't put down, the one from which she couldn't be apart. And if she was more honest still, she knew she'd felt it like a tickle in her head since a moment long ago when she'd been knocked out by a Marlboro.

She wanted to drag the Fayth out of wherever he was hiding and wring his little neck for putting these dreams in her head.

The Fayth! Rikku looked out amongst the crowd within the temple, eyes searching. Was he here? Had he given her this vision, as he'd done beneath Bevelle? Were these thoughts just creations of her heart, born of the decision he'd pressed her to make, or was he _literally_ putting this vision in her head? She couldn't see that ever-present helmet of his, but that didn't mean he wasn't hidden by the temple's shadows.

The Al Bhed reluctantly climbed from beneath the avalanche of thoughts and returned her attention to the ceremony. Vidina tottered up the aisle, pillow between his chubby hands, to present the rings to bride and groom, who took them with smiles amid the coos of adoration at the little boy.

The Summoner and Chairman pledged their lives and love with the bands they placed on one another's finger, each voice trembling, and eyes watery. The priest placed a hand over theirs clasped.

"And to the witness of your friends, family, and treasured guests," he said, and his smile was a gift, "and those gathered from far and wide to celebrate your love, I now pronounce you husband and wife, companions forever in the eyes of the divine. Seal your promise with a kiss."

Yuna and Baralai turned their faces from the priest and to each other. Their gaze met, and their faces drew near. As their lips touched, acolytes drew down the satin cords, and brilliant sun spilled like dawn across the chamber. Eyes blinked against the light — all but bride and bridegroom, lids shuttered against the world beyond their embrace.

The cheer reached the far corners of Spira, and would last for many days.

* * *

As if mandated by heavenly powers, the weather cooperated for the reception. This allowed guests to move freely among the seven areas designated across the island for the celebration, essentially turning all of Besaid into one big party. The bride, groom, and other members of the wedding party had all agreed amongst themselves to make appearances at each location, in groups of two or three. For the girls, it almost felt like the Gullwings again, they ran into so many old familiar faces.

By late afternoon they were pretty much all back in the village proper, where they would soon kick off the wedding banquet. Only the bride and groom were still absent, though a simple glance at the omnipresent SphereNet monitors temporarily installed all over the island showed them heading back and currently near the waterfalls. At a buffet of finger foods for snacking before the banquet proper, Paine sipped at a glass of pitaya juice while nearby Nooj nibbled at a cracker topped with sweet crab.

"So, Baralai is the first to get the girl," Nooj said.

"I would have thought Gippal," Paine replied.

"Well, to _get_ the girl, yeah, but not to _keep_ her."

"Unless he got her in trouble," Paine chuckled.

Nooj laughed in agreement.

The warrior looked over at him after a moment. She tried to make her voice sound casual. "So, what about you and Leblanc?"

Nooj sighed, as if the question exhausted him. "There is no me and Leblanc."

Paine dropped her eyes. "Does _she_ know that?"

The tall man put down his plate and looked over his glasses at the woman. "Paine — in all the time you spend with me at the Headquarters and her at the Sphere Museum, why don't _you_ know that?"

She didn't look up. "Well, I don't like to get into your personal business."

Nooj laughed, and Paine raised her eyes, confusion on her face. Nooj shook his head. "Great ghost of Yevon, Paine, _why not_?"

"Captain, I—" Paine began, but he cut her off.

"Enough with the 'Captain' talk. You're not in the Youth League and we're not on our fabled airship." At the confused look on her face he cocked his head. "Wait, you don't even realize you say it, do you? 'Captain'. You do it all the time."

"I do?"

"Even when you don't." Nooj shook his head. "It's in the way you act around me, too. Like you're still a sphere recorder, and I'm still a Crimson Squad candidate, talking down to you."

Paine dropped her eyes once more.

Nooj closed the distance between them and touched her arm. "Yeah, I remember that. I was arrogant, I know that. I had no right to be. Leaders aren't leaders when they do that; they're bullies. I've learned since then, though I've never apologized."

Paine waved it off, but still didn't meet his eyes.

Nooj leaned down to see her face. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless it's because you're afraid of me."

Now she _really_ looked puzzled.

"Because I... because I shot you. Paine, about that—"

"Don't worry about it."

"But..."

"Don't worry about it," she said more forcefully. She looked at him. "If Yuna can forgive Baralai for trying to destroy the world, I can forgive you for shooting me."

Nooj hung his head. "Well, I was under the influence of a crazy wandering unsent and all."

Paine nudged him with her elbow, smiling. "Exactly." She grinned. "Which you can pretty much say about you and Leblanc."

Nooj laughed. He glanced up at the nearest SphereNet monitor. "Our happy couple is almost here. I'm going to go greet them, see if there's anything I can help with before the banquet starts. You wanna come with?"

The warrior shook her head. "I actually have to check with Shelinda. This whole day is the biggest thing SphereNet has covered since the Eternal Calm began, and Leblanc has me as the liaison between them and the Sphere Museum. So I'm recording a few segments for them myself."

"Well don't try to hide behind the camera again," he said. "I intend to get you out on the dance floor later, you hear?"

Paine raised her eyebrows at him. "Dancing? You?"

With great deliberateness, Nooj set down his plate of crab, then leaned his cane against the buffet table. He stretched to his full height, then did the tiniest of two-steps, his limp almost unnoticeable. "For this party? I've been practicing for weeks. I swear I won't embarrass you."

She had to blink several times, and swallow carefully before she spoke. "The thought never entered my mind."

"Then it's a date," he winked.

Paine nodded, a warmth spreading through her at his smile, a warmth that stayed with her a good long while.

* * *

The toasts had been made, the sit-down meal partaken, and the wedding cake cut. The dancing had begun and was sure to continue well into the night. The cake having not given Rikku nearly the sugar high she would need to sustain her for the duration, the Al Bhed was back at the dessert table searching for just the right confection. She was also trying to shake off a creeping melancholy, and knew that something sweet was always her best first line of defense. Still, knowing its source, she couldn't help but turn her eyes regularly back to Yuna and Baralai at the head table, hands held and heads together as if the only ones in the world.

Following her gaze, another Al Bhed took the opportunity to approach. "So, Rikku," Gippal said, sidling up to her, resting a hand on the small of her back, "you and I have been friends for a long time... longer than Yuna and Baralai—"

She cut him off with a look. "If you want it to be any longer, you'll end that sentence right there. And if you want to keep the one eye you still have, you'll get your hand away from my butt."

The Machine Faction leader raised his hands in surrender. "Whoa, Princess, it was just a friendly tease."

She cocked her head. "With more than friendly intentions." She raised an eyebrow, the hint of a grin on her lips. "I'm on to you, you know."

"Like there was any doubt. Can't blame a guy for trying, though," he gave her a crooked smile.

"I can blame _you_," she stared him down.

"Someday, Princess," he pointed at her as he backed off, "_someday_, you'll let someone into that heart of yours."

"And when I do, he'll be someone sincere," Rikku countered.

"_I'm_ sincere!" Gippal protested. Then seemed to catch himself. "Sincerely getting out of here."

He slithered off. "So, Leblanc..." Rikku heard him say, and smiled to herself.

One last glance over the dessert table and she spotted, all by itself, a single plate of sliced pitaya with acacia honey. Her squeal turned more than a few heads, but she paid no mind, snatching it up and hustling over to plop in an empty chair at a table where Paine sat, scanning the party, a recorder at her eye.

"Done giving Gippal the heave-ho?" Paine asked.

"He wishes he'd ever gotten that close."

Paine smiled slyly behind the camera. "What guy in Spira doesn't?"

Rikku's spoon paused halfway to her mouth. "We back on that now? My love life?"

The warrior placed her elbow on the table, recorder now pointed at nothing. "Not if you don't want to be. But you're back into the sweets, so _something_ must be bothering you. I figured I'd start there."

The spoonful of pitaya made its way into the Al Bhed's mouth, but didn't prevent her from speaking. "Man have I been a bad infruence on you," the sticky dessert slurred her words. "You're arr eager to tark about feerings and rerationships, and I'm the one with the avoid-iness."

"I wouldn't say I'm _eager_ to talk."

"For you this is eager."

Paine didn't respond.

The blonde swallowed, looking around at the dancing, the laughing. "There _is_ an awful lot of love in the air, even for a wedding. Too much for you probably."

Paine reached a fork over and stole a slice of pitaya from Rikku's dish. "No," she said, a secretive smile on her lips, "just about enough for me." She ate the pitaya with a little moan, having to lick her lips to get all the honey. "I see why you like this so much." She raised the recorder back to her eye.

Rikku raised another spoonful, but paused, staring at its contents without really seeing them. Her eyes returned to the head table and the bride and bridegroom.

"What is it, Rikku?"

"I know this is like the happiest day of Yunie's life, but..."

"But?"

"I guess I'm wondering if this is how it's really supposed to end."

Paine peeked out an eye, brow furrowed, before putting it back behind the lens. "I don't understand."

Rikku sighed, putting down her spoon. "Did Yuna ever tell you she was giving up on her search?" Without waiting for an answer, she went on. "After Vegnagun, we stopped looking for— for, uhm, for spheres as much—"

"You mean for _him_?" Paine interrupted.

The little thief blushed, then took a breath. "Yeah, okay, we stopped looking for _him_, but did you just figure it out after awhile, or did she actually tell you?"

"Well it became obvious after she started dating Baralai, don't you think?"

Rikku sighed, a little exasperated. "Sure, by then, but did she actually _say_ anything to you? About things changing? About giving up our search?"

Paine noted the use of 'our' instead of 'her', but didn't mention it. "Not specifically, no. But a lot of things changed after Vegnagun."

"_I_ didn't," Rikku responded, her voice very small. "I still wanted—" She broke off. "I thought things were gonna to keep going, you know? Get back to normal. Get back to… I thought we'd find him."

Paine didn't speak, didn't move. Was it time? Was she finally ready to admit it? After a long moment, almost holding her breath, Paine asked, "Did you want to keep looking?"

The little thief took a long time herself to answer. "Yes. I shouldn't have, I know. I shouldn't have wanted to, but I did."

"Rikku..."

"I just don't understand," she continued. "I mean, Yunie's moved on, you know? Tidus helped her change, and though I know she still loves him, Baralai makes her happy. So why can't _I_ get past it?"

Paine didn't lower the recorder. "Maybe _you're_ in love with him," she said simply.

Rikku was so startled she slipped off the chair, landing loudly on the floor as the chair skidded backwards and onto the grass.

A few nearby partiers looked their way, but seemed to brush it off as too much enthusiasm. The lens of the sphere recorder dipped, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. "Did I strike a nerve?"

Rikku didn't move. "Oh my gosh! Maybe I _am_ in love with him." She scrunched up her pretty face. "This is horrible!"

Paine's other eyebrow lifted as well. "I'm sorry?"

The Al Bhed clutched her hands to the sides of her face, shaking it back and forth. "I _can't_ be in love with Tidus! What would I tell Yunie?"

"Why tell her anything? Tidus is dead."

Rikku sprang to her feet. "No he's not! I can't see him on the Farplane... which means he's not dead!"

The recorder lifted back up, scanning the dancers some more. A group of Hypello had taken over a space near the head table and were performing some strange native routine for the bride and groom. Brother was dangling Shinra over a table by his ankles while the young man attempted to eat a plate of sweet flan without using his hands. "So you find him, tell him you love him, and live happily ever after."

"It's not that simple," the younger woman protested.

Paine set the camera back on the table. She looked at her friend steadily.

"Love is rarely simple, Rikku. But it's also rarely 'horrible'."

The Al Bhed retrieved her chair and, drawing it back to the table, sat once more. Her face was a mask of confusion. "How did this happen? Just all of a sudden?"

Paine almost laughed out loud. "It's not all of a sudden, Rikku, trust me. These things just sneak up on you sometimes. Whether you know it or not, whether you admit it or not, it happens just the same."

The little thief stood back up again, unable to sit still. Was Paine right? Had she been in love with Tidus all this time?

She heard laughing from another part of her brain: _of course_ she'd been in love with Tidus. She'd known it right along. She had simply never let herself examine her feelings lest she be forced to admit it.

Then another thought struck her. "The Fayth! That's why he keeps asking me..."

"Asking you…?"

"The wish of my heart. To repay me."

Paine smiled slyly. "For?"

Rikku shuffled on her feet, embarrassed. "For saving the world."

"Ah."

"He knew. He knew what I wanted."

"Better than you," Paine said. "Smart little bugger, that Fayth." She put a finger to her lips. "So the question is, then, now that you know you want to search again, how do you find him? We never found evidence of him before, but now we have. Do the Gullwings saddle up again?"

But Rikku had stopped her shuffling, and stood unmoving by the table, eyes unfocused, mind distant. He _knew_… the Fayth knew all along what she had wanted, what was in her heart. He wanted her to ask for it, but she hadn't been able back then, because she couldn't see what _he_ saw. Her eyes flicked towards the table. What Paine saw too, she thought to herself, recalling a conversation on a balcony in Bevelle.

So what else had the Fayth said to her? She scrunched up her face in thought. And then it came to her, not from something the Fayth had said, but someone else…

"_What's wrong with dreams?_ _I'm kinda fond of them myself."_

Rikku's heart skipped a beat. There, all this time.

The warrior nudged again. "Do we?"

"No," the little thief said quietly, a grin forming on her lips.

Paine puzzled. "Then how—"

"He just needs someone to start dreaming of him again!" Rikku exclaimed, bouncing on her toes.

Paine opened her mouth to speak but couldn't, and closed it again.

"What?" Rikku asked.

"I was going to say that to _you_, but I guess you knew it already."

The Al Bhed nodded, then, with a look at the head table that held a mixture of longing, sadness, and hope, gathered the fabric of her sari in one hand to lift the hem off the ground. "I have to go," she said to Paine, and then started across the dance floor and towards the village exit.

"Rikku!" Paine called.

She suddenly turned and dashed back to the table, then grabbed her spoon and scooped up the last slice of honey-covered pitaya to her mouth. She turned to leave once again.

This time Paine stood and, with her warrior's reflexes, reached out to grab the smaller girl's arm. "Where are you going?"

Rikku looked in Paine's eyes, and her own eyes said it all.

"Oh!" Paine said. "Now?"

Rikku nodded. "I can't wait any longer. I've waited so long, without even knowing I was."

Her friend smiled in understanding. "But where?"

"I have an idea."

"How will you—?"

Rikku smiled again, softly. She put a hand over her heart. "Faith."

And she was gone.

* * *

Besaid had grown smaller and smaller below, until it was finally just a bright jewel on the darkening sea. The sun dipped below the horizon and the water was ink, the Celsius empty and silent but for the rush of wind beyond its walls and windows and the thrum of the engines, straining as hard as they'd ever done. Rikku had fielded a single call on the commsphere as the craft maneuvered a bay full of ships from all over Spira out to open water and a safe launch.

"Oh, Rikku!" Buddy'd said from the crystal, his voice slightly slurred. "I thought Brother was trying to impress some girl."

"No, just me, Buddy," she'd replied. "I… I have to do something."

"No problem, boss," he'd said. "But if you're flying solo, be careful."

"Hey, it's me," she'd smiled.

"That it is."

The smile had reached to the soles of her feet, but the anxiety too. What was she doing? Rushing out of maybe the best party in Spiran history on a journey that would last well into the night on what? A hunch?

She'd gotten tired of the blackness of the sky and the blackness of the sea and had perched a SphereNet viewer on the console in front of her while she babysat the Celsius' controls. Once the official broadcast had ended, she'd jimmied the settings on the viewer to pick up the raw video feed. As Rikku suspected, the celebration had continued strong deep into the night. Below had passed the lights of Luca, then the sparkles of the Machine Faction Headquarters in Djose, then the glow of the Moonflow. Behind had passed the Father of the Bride dance (Kimahri cut a fine rug), the throwing of the bouquet (Paine's warrior skills had bested Leblanc's exuberance), and the First Goodnight — a mini-roast of the bride and groom as they headed off for their wedding night where their friends and guests tried to one up each other with double-entendres at the couple's expense. A fine Spiran wedding tradition, Rikku thought. And she'd been thinking up some good ones in the last few days too, she sighed. As usual, Gippal had turned the couple crimson, and had the remaining crowd rolling — he was always the champion of the First Goodnight at the weddings she'd attended, and this proved to be no exception.

Rikku felt more than just anxious about leaving the wedding on what may be a fool's errand: she also felt guilty. Guilty for skipping out on maybe the most important day of Yunie's life; guilty for being in love with Tidus. But should she be? Why should she feel guilty for loving the man Yunie moved on from?

"_Wouldn't that spook the chocobos?"_

"_Please, Paine, just leave it alone."_

"… _I don't _want_ to do nothing. I want to do everything! …I want to bring him back and— and—"_

"_What is the wish of your heart?"_

How long? she pondered. How long had she felt this way, had she loved him? Had it been since Guadosalam, when he'd said he'd rather have her than Yuna? (Had he really meant that? She didn't even know.) Perhaps from his gape as she stripped off her wetsuit on the shore of the Moonflow. Maybe it had been earlier still, when she lost him overboard to Sin. The way her heart had fallen nearly out of her chest as he vanished... she could still remember that so vividly. Maybe it had even been when she saw him, shivering and alone, huddled in that frigid damp chamber in Baaj.

Yet every time she felt that twinge after they'd reunited, she'd pushed it away. Dismissed it. She'd seen how he looked at Yuna, of course at Yuna. Sin had snatched him from Rikku, and by the time she saw him again, she'd lost her chance. How Yuna had looked at him… how could she compete with that?

Her heart clenched again. What if she did find him? Yuna had moved on, but could he? Would she find him, just for it to shatter her? _I'd rather have you, Rikku._ Dare she believe that?

Dare she not?

* * *

The sari neatly hung in her Celsius' closet, the ship nestled among the brambles and bushes at the edge of the empty forest, Rikku walked down the sloping bay door and into the sounds of a Macalanian night. For a moment she watched the lightning flicker endlessly across the Thunder Plains. How it had frightened her a lifetime ago. Jagged afterimages burned in her vision for long moments after she turned her back upon them.

The whirring and chirping of insects greeted her as the thunder faded behind. The soft scent of moss and slightly cloying perfume of flowers drifted past her on the gentlest of breezes, which rustled the canopy of green and danced across her skin. She tried to lose herself in the sensations, let them calm the rush of blood in her veins. Rikku had tread these paths many times, but never with her heart pounding so. She kept finding herself almost jogging, and each time forced her feet to stop and her breath to still before moving forward once more.

She took the Sky Trail, feet pounding up the branches as they'd climb Gagazet; the sounds changed from tiny creatures rustling through the brush to sharp-eyed hunters gliding through the leaves, and she felt them like kindred. Then Rikku stilled, high in the forest's crown. Here beyond the Thunder Plains edge, the clouds gave way to moonlit sky, and pale flickers danced all about her. The air had chilled enough from the day that a fine dew was starting to form on all the greenery, and the breeze shook it down upon her like a kiss of rain. She held out her arms, palms to the sky, and closed her eyes. She tilted back her head and welcomed the mist to cool her cheeks.

For five years she'd hunted, knowing she'd been or not. Five years since the Eternal Calm, and everyone else's joy and prosperity had eluded her. Or so she'd told herself. She'd envied it all, while keeping it at bay. Even now, the hours of flight had twisted her stomach to knots, her breath to rags, her blood to fire. She'd questioned every minute, every mile… would it happen? Could it happen? But really, it was all in the smallest whisper within: did she deserve it?

She let her heartbeat slow, let her breathing ease.

Rikku surrendered.

The path descended to the forest floor once again, and Rikku gingerly stepped from the rough bark to the soft grass and scattered leaves. Nothing in her was surprised as she passed among the clinging wet branches and saw the diminutive figure waiting patiently before the break in the foliage that still bore the years-old mark of Auron's blade.

"You came," he said.

Rikku smiled with only her lips. "Been waiting long?"

He pushed back the helmet so that his eyes met hers. "Long enough," he said. "It's been long enough."

She sighed. "It has."

"Now, Princess," the Fayth said, "_now_ you see your heart."

"You knew all along."

"But you didn't. And I couldn't tell you. Only guide you."

Her eyes dropped. "Like herding cats, huh?"

"You _are_ strangely stubborn," he grinned.

"It's Pops' influence."

"Of that there is no doubt."

She looked beyond him, at the path of dappled light that lay ahead. "But I'm here at last."

"You remembered what I said."

"Is… is he—?"

He watched her face, an expression there which held both resignation and hope. "I cannot answer that," he said. "I have done all I can. Now it is for you to decide."

Rikku's voice became distant as she squinted, willing some answer from the darkness beyond the bushes and trees. "For me to? Haven't I decided enough things in my life?" Her feet carried her forwards, brushing past the Fayth as if he were forgotten. "Why does everyone keep putting me in charge?"

With the tiniest of grins, he addressed her slowly retreating back, unsure if she even heard him anymore. "Maybe so. Maybe it's time someone shared your burden, Princess."

The path narrowed around Rikku as she left him behind, moist leaves and sharp branches clawing in at her with each step. The foliage was so thick here that no moonlight reached; her path instead was guided by the glow of pyreflies. They seemed to beckon her forward, through the clinging green, towards a place she knew very well. Her breath catching in her throat, Rikku steeled herself and moved forward, out from the darkness and into the suddenly bright night of a wide and shallow pool. Water spread forward from the thicker trees at the back of the clearing, swirling gently about a single tree at its center. The little thief had last seen this place in the Sphere Museum in Luca, and first on the heels of her fellow Guardians, on Yunie's pilgrimage.

It was the place where memories are made.

From the pouch on her belt, she withdrew the sphere once more, perhaps looking as weathered now from the frequency of her touch as the age of its contents, and her own memories welled up within Rikku unbidden. So many; too many.

_The wet chill of an abandoned temple; the wet chill of his cheek as she pressed her lips to his ear to whisper, "_Cunno_."_

She lifted the sphere in one hand, gently running her fingers of the other over its surface. She glanced about, at nothing, and everything. "I don't know if you can hear me," she said. "Maybe no more or less than you can at the Farplane. But the Fayth said to come here."

_The warmth of his broad, muscled back as she pressed her own cheek there, racing across the ice and through the whipping snow, hiding her face from his naïveté._

Rikku walked slowly forward, water lapping at her shoes as she stepped across the lattice of branches that made up the clearing's floor. "He said that the last time I saw you. Or thought I saw you. In my dream, beneath Bevelle. When you saved me from falling into that big hole. Which I almost fell into because you scared me. Am I babbling? I feel like I'm babbling."

_His look of shock, and grief, and horror, as she'd explained what a summoner's sacrifice really was._

She stood in the water, moonlight upon her face, light sparkling from every surface, even the air itself. "You do that do me, Tidus. You always have. I've pushed it away, this feeling, pretended I never had it. Pretended so well that no one knew how I felt, not even me." She felt a wetness on her cheeks. "But I do now, after all this time."

_The flush of her cheeks, the butterflies in her belly, the unreadable look on his face back up amongst the branches of Guadosalam. "Syopa cusatyo!"_

"Tidus," her voice trembled, "without you I've felt… unsent."

Rikku felt a tingle in her hand, and almost dropped the sphere in surprise. It was starting to vibrate… no, not vibrate: hum. Like a little song, whose tune she couldn't place. Suddenly the air about her was swarming with pyreflies. She smiled as they danced about her hand, and then her head, and then… they moved away, not at random, but straight ahead. Past the tree and forward. A few slowed and circled in the air, as if waiting.

Rikku frowned, and then pointed a finger at herself. "Me?" she asked the wisps of light. They suddenly swirled about. The little thief shrugged and moved forward, pausing a moment before the great tree. Then she pulled off her boots, hanging them from her belt by the laces, and waded into the water, toes moving gingerly among the submerged branches and stones, ankles sloshing through the warm gush where it poured over the roots in a tiny cascade.

Again the green closed upon her, dancing around her as she followed the floating glow. She soon stopped trying to keep her bearings, splashing one way and then another too many times as the pyreflies led her on. The leaves, the moon, the shadows, she rushed past them all in her mad dash. She whispered hopeful prayers that should wouldn't trip and sail headlong into some fearsome bramble, or get dragged down into some swampy depth by a fiend.

Then the forest opened once more, and the pyreflies swooped low and spread away across the broad surface of a pool, like skimming stars whose twinkles mingled with those reflected from far above.

Rikku hesitated at the spring's edge, breath caught by the beauty everywhere around her. She cast down her eyes against it, too much, too much… and as the ripples of her arrival settled, she saw herself. Not the fifteen-year-old who'd blushed at his tease, and run off. Who'd tried to snatch up the summoners and hide them away.

Instead she saw a Guardian, who'd help defeat Sin for good. A champion who protected the High Summoner and brought the Eternal Calm. The woman who was rebuilding Home.

Rikku, Princess of the Al Bhed. Who'd saved the world. Twice.

Dare she believe? Yes.

_Maybe someday_. With all her heart, Rikku knew, at that moment, that someday was today.

And then she waded forward, ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep, into the water, to find her love.


End file.
